School Bus Additional Ounce Stamps, 2023 Sheet – Additional Postage for Letters Over 1 Ounce

The stamp features a stylized illustration of a 21st century yellow school bus, in profile in front of a silhouetted schoolhouse that is more evocative of an earlier era. Just under the building’s gable roof, a clock shows 10 minutes to 8; the morning bell will ring soon.
Although vehicles dedicated to transporting children to and from school have operated since the late 19th century, it was only in 1930 that the modern, enclosed, steel school bus came into being. And it was in 1939 that “National School Bus Chrome” first became the vehicle’s standard color. That year, a group of state transportation officials and bus and paint manufacturers gathered at Columbia University’s Teachers College, in New York City, to develop safety and fabrication standards for school buses. The group tested various colors and determined that black lettering showed most legibly on yellow, especially in the dim light of dawn or dusk. Thirty-five states immediately began mandating that color, but it was not until 1974 that all states did.