BUTLER TWP — The Butler School Board Monday night voted to approve a contract amendment with its busing contractor Valley Lines to address non-compliance issues.

The board voted in April to authorize officials to negotiate an amendment after hearing a report one month earlier listing contract violations, including having buses on the road that were more than 10 years old.

The age of buses is a key factor in a formula for state transportation reimbursement.

The terms of the amendment were negotiated by Acting Superintendent William Pettigrew and board member Al Vavro and reviewed by district solicitor Tom King and district transportation supervisor Debby Croft.

Under the amendment, Valley Lines agreed to have the money the district lost in transportation reimbursement and money for overbilling subtracted from its monthly payments this year.

Valley Lines owed about $110,000 to the district, though the district had already subtracted $15,558 from a payment earlier this year to address overbilling for Butler County Vocational Technical School runs, Pettigrew said.

Also included in the amendment was a new requirement for the age of the buses. Instead of requiring regular buses to be no more than 10 years old, they are now to be no more than eight years old.

A full report appears in the Butler Eagle.