Here’s something that hits closer to home and doesn’t involve kneeling: Eligibility has been denied for a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Lunenburg County Public Schools (LCPS) that would have provided funds for the division to purchase two new school buses.

The reasoning for the grant denial, according to Commonwealth Regional Council (CRC) Acting Executive Director Melody Foster, is the division’s current buses have no usable life left.

Foster said during the Sept. 7 monthly CRC meeting, according to the EPA, when the agency provides the grants to a school division, the school can’t sell the buses it currently uses and can’t allow for the buses to be used in any other way.

CRC Vice-Chairman and Buckingham County District Four Supervisor Morgan Dunnavant described the application process that’s set up as “completely stupid and backwards to a way public funds are supposed to be tended and spent out.”

It needs to be understood that the reason the EPA would do this is to replace newer school buses that may not be paid off yet with school buses that would be better for the environment. So it would make sense the EPA would reward those who go out of the way to reward those who are contributing to a cleaner society.

With that being said, I do agree with Dunnavant’s sentiment of this being “completely stupid.”

During the Sept. 7 CRC meeting, Brown’s Store Interim Supervisor Mike Hankins said the application was designed for a school system “that’s got too much money and a school administrator that is a poor manager.”

It’s reasonable for environmental reasons. It’s dumb for economic reasons.

Morgan White is a staff reporter for The K-V Dispatch. His email address is Morgan.White@KVDispatch.com.