Preston ― Voters will be asked at a special meeting Thursday to approve using $60,000 in state grant money to purchase a new nine-passenger school van.

The town meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at Preston Plains Middle School. The request calls for using grant money the district initially received last year for a new reading program for the van, Superintendent Roy Seitsinger said. The reading program has already been purchased, Seitsinger said.

The new 2024 Ford van will cost $75,000, and the school district expects to receive $15,000 from the trade-in of the old van, which has 250,000 miles on it, Seitsinger said.

The van would be used to transport small groups of students to education programs out of town, Seitsinger said. Preston runs its own school bus fleet, rather than contracting for the service.