BROWNSTOWN — Students attending any of Brownstown Central Community School Corp.’s three schools will not have to pay for textbooks or curriculum materials when they return to school Aug. 4.

Superintendent Tim Taylor delivered that message to the board of school trustees during their recent monthly meeting at the administrative office.

“So we are not charging textbook fees,” he said. “I will get something out through social media soon.”

Hoosier lawmakers set aside $160 million during this year’s legislative session to cover the cost of textbooks and other curriculum materials for students at all public and charter schools and eligible students in nonpublic schools as part of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Next Level Agenda.

That includes the Chromebooks Brownstown Central students receive each year, Taylor said.

Books and materials will still belong to the corporation and will have to be returned at the end of the school year.

“We still need to hold people accountable for past bills that they have,” Taylor said. “So those are not washed away or anything, and we have some that are rather large.”

In a related matter, trustees approved the purchase of a textbook and workbook bundle for a new introduction to transportation class the corporation is offering to high school students this coming school year.

“We would like to purchase a set of 25,” Taylor said. “The cost is $183.64 each for a total of $4,591.”

Taylor said a commercial driver’s license class also is in the works for high school students and should be in place by the second or third trimester.

The implementation of the school’s new website, Apptegy, was supposed to happen July 1 but is running a little behind schedule, he said.

“We’re hoping to get some mailers out in the next day or so,” Taylor said.

He said there is a little cleanup and additions that need to be made to the site, but information about obtaining the app will be available at the corporation’s booth during the Jackson County Fair.

“It really makes things a lot easier,” he said. “Anything that has to do with our corporation is just a touch of a button.”

Taylor said it will be very smooth and seamless for users as opposed to the present website.

Assistant Superintendent Jade Peters also gave a report on the recent auction of five school buses. A sixth bus that wasn’t running at the time has been fixed and was set to be auctioned Wednesday.

Peters said the auction brought in about $11,000 more than the corporation would have made if the buses had been traded in for new buses.