MANCHESTER, N.H. – With the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) about to gather for its final meeting before its summer break on June 22, and it must make a decision on whether to accept paying nearly a million dollars for a sub-optimal proposal or risk having nowhere to put them during the 2026-’27 school year.
During the June 10th BOSC Finance and Facilities Committee meeting, Manchester School District Assistant Superintendent Kelly Espinola reported that there was only one bidder responding to a request by the district that sought bus storage, mechanics, regular repairs and dispatching. That bid came from First Student, who offered a location in Candia along with three technicians and a shop manager. The bid was estimated at $979,000 per year, most of which will go to pay for those four employees along with the storage and parts needs outlined in the request. All maintenance and repairs of the buses would also occur in Candia before and after the buses travel to Manchester to transport students from their homes to schools and other school events. Additionally, the mechanic fees would have approximate three percent increases annually over the life of the proposed five-year term of the agreement.
Espinola told the committee that several other options were explored without success. A lot behind the Elliot Hospital River’s Edge facility appeared to be available, but it stopped being an option after May 26. Currently, the buses are stored at Manchester Transit Authority’s lot, and continuing to store the buses there beyond Sept. 1 would cost $248,000 per year and would not include mechanics. In comparison, the portion of storage costs in the Candia proposal would cost $120,000 a year. A warehouse on Bouchard Street was available for rent immediately, but this option also did not include mechanics and would cost roughly $86,000 per month.
These were just the most likely alternatives, as other possibilities at Goffstown Trucking, Saint Anselm College, Southern New Hampshire University and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport were also explored.
“For the past 12 months at this point, we’ve been grasping at straws,” said Espinola.
BOSC Vice Chair Jim O’Connell could not support the bid. He expressed frustration that this news was coming so late in the school year with limited time to make a decision and that additional mileage driving the buses from Candia to Manchester and back would raise maintenance and replacement costs. He also expressed frustration with the price tag of the proposal given the $16 million budget gap that became a centerpiece of discussion in recent months as the district’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget came into focus.
Although time is limited, O’Connell felt that additional discussion with city officials was necessary given First Student’s Candia proposal.
“We’re in a terrible position, but maybe being in a terrible position is exactly what we need to get people sitting up and paying attention and saying ‘what are we going to do?’.” he said.
Ward 2 BOSC Member Sean Parr also expressed concern with the buses being located in Candia due to its distance from Manchester making it more difficult for students to get to school on time.
While Espinola and Manchester School District Executive Director of Legal and Policy Matt Upton reiterated that the First Student option was the only option on the table at that time, it could be possible to negotiate a shorter timeframe for the agreement. In First Student’s proposal, the agreement would last for five years, which O’Connell felt was too long of a commitment given the “emergency” nature of the situation.
At Upton and Espinola’s request, the committee did not reject or support the proposal and instead offered no recommendation either way. This decision allowed continued negotiations with First Student. If an agreement cannot be made before Sept. 1, they indicated that the Manchester Transit Authority could continue to house the school buses until mid-September.
“We can do all we want to improve schools, but if we don’t have a way to get kids to schools, it’s all for naught,” said Upton.