Three bidders want to provide fuel for the Kewanee School District’s buses for the coming school year. Picking the winning bid will be a challenge for the school board.
It’s a significant decision, since the district buys upwards of 60,000 gallons of bus fuel each year.
Ethan Washburn, representing FS, told the board at its regular meeting earlier this month that his company would provide a new fuel system. This would include a new fuel tank and a computer system that would track each bus’s fuel usage.
Supt. Rebecca Baney told the school board during a special meeting Thursday that the company that now supplies bus fuel to the district, Cenex, has apparently not been deducting the state sales tax from its fuel bills to the district.
School districts, being taxing bodies themselves, are exempt from paying state taxes on bus fuel.
Baney said efforts to get Cenex to refund the sales taxes to the district have so far been unsuccessful.
Also Thursday:
— The board hired Green for Life, a Peoria company, to pick up trash from school buildings. Baney said their bid was $621 per month lower than the current contractor.
— The district’s 2024-2025 amended budget was approved.
— Resignations from KHS math teacher Paul VanWassenhove and Jenny Edwards from a number of coaching and tutoring positions at Central School were accepted, as was the retirement of Roger Waugh as district maintenance worker.
— The board approved the hiring of Dr. Rick Cernovich as a part-time health science teacher at Kewanee High School, and Christy Burnett as a paraprofessional at Belle Alexander School.
***This copy was edited to correct the years of the district budget, which was originally reported at the 2025-26 budget.
