FARMINGTON — Regional School Unit 9 directors voted Tuesday to enter a five-year lease-purchase agreement to buy a 2019 Blue Bird school bus.

The 77-passenger bus will replace a 2003 model that was damaged beyond repair in an accident, board Chairwoman Jennifer Zweig Hebert said.

The cost of the bus is $98,600, but after subtracting the $15,558 for insurance, the amount to be financed is $83,042, she said.

The board also accepted a recommendation to go with Androscoggin Bank for a loan with an annual interest rate of 3.07 percent. The total interest is $5,096.43.

The Gorham Leasing Group offered a 3.10 percent interest rate, which would have brought the interest up to $5,348.10.

In other business, the board approved Christopher Marshall, a junior at Mt. Blue High School, as a new student representative to the school board.

Marshall filled out an application last spring and was interviewed recently. He took a public speaking class with senior student representative Griffin Mayhew, who spoke highly of being on the school board, he said.

He thinks it is important for board members to have some perspective about what students go through, Marshall said.

Marshall is a member of the boys’ soccer and tennis teams. He is also involved in the robotics program and gives skiing lessons at Titcomb Mountain in Farmington.