Feds pledge $1 billion to deliver 2,700 electric, low-emission school buses

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration announced $1 billion in funding for more than 2,700 electric and low-emission school buses across 37 states in January.

This is a second part of funding of a $5 billion, five-year initiative from the bipartisan infrastructure law. In total, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program has awarded nearly $2 billion and funded approximately 5,000 electric and low-emission school buses nationwide.

Washington schools will receive a combined $14.9 million through the program. That money will go to help 20 districts replace buses. “Getting more clean school buses on our roads is a win for students, our planet, and our economy,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement. Murray introduced legislation to create the program. It was later wrapped into the 2021 infrastructure law.

Seattle and Tacoma school districts will also receive funding for new electric school buses through a grant to First Student, Inc., a school bus services provider, that will fund approximately 46 new buses across eight districts in Washington and Oregon.

On a call with reporters, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said that many school buses “rely on internal combustion engines that emit toxic pollution into the air.”

“Not only are these pollutants harmful to the environment, but they can also be harmful to the health and well-being of every student, every bus driver and every resident in surrounding communities,” he said.

Out of the 2,737 school buses, 95% will be electric, the White House said. There are roughly half a million school buses across the U.S. used by public schools. A recent Office of Inspector General’s report found that EPA’s Clean Bus Program could be delayed by local utility companies trying to meet demand for electric school buses.

The report found that because “EPA’s 2022 rebate application did not require applicants to coordinate with their utility companies before applying for rebates … the Agency may be unable to effectively manage and achieve the program mission unless utility companies can meet increasing power supply demands for electric school buses.”

In response to that report, Regan said that he is in contact with electric utilities across the country and “they’re excited about (electric vehicles) period, whether it be school buses, whether it be transit or whether it be cars and trucks.”

“I have no doubt that our electricity system can handle this transition,” he said.

Regan said that low-income public school districts and tribal communities make up about 86% of the projects selected to receive funding. Some of those funding mechanisms include grants, rebates and contracts.

States besides Washington that were given multiple awards for clean energy school buses include Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Oregon, among others.

First published Jan. 8, 2024. Copyright 2024 Washington State Standard. Reprinted with permission. For the list of Washington state school districts that received funding, see washingtonstatestandard.com. Figueroa covers the nation’s capital for States Newsroom.