The Park City School District was selected to receive $400,000 in federal rebate funding to buy two clean school buses. The money is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 Clean School Bus Program rebate competition.
The Biden administration said the federal program provides a total of $5 billion meant to transform U.S. school bus fleets. It said with more electric school buses, school districts will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money. The program also had student health in mind, as diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other health conditions.
Park City School District Chief Operations Officer Mike Tanner said the district is excited at the opportunity to add electric buses to its fleet. Electric buses are just one part of the district's commitment to cut down on emissions.
“We've made a commitment overall on a transportation fleet to provide a very clean fleet,” Tanner said. “Right now we don't have any of the old dirty diesels on site, the majority of our buses are very clean, low-emitting diesels that emit less than a regular passenger car in terms of exhaust gases.”
Tanner said the funding won’t cover the cost of two electric buses — those can cost around $350,000. However, the district won’t incur additional costs to purchase electric buses. The district adds around three buses to its fleet each year, as buses are on a 10-year rotation. Tanner said with the federal funding, two new electric buses will cost the district the same as buying two diesel buses.
Tanner said the district will have more information about when they will receive the funds and when they must purchase the buses in the next few weeks.
Two other Utah school districts were also awarded funding through the program. Granite School District was awarded $400,000 and Uintah School District was awarded $690,000.
According to a release, the program provided funds to school districts in 47 states and several federally recognized Tribes and U.S. territories. Low-income, rural and Tribal communities received about 67% of the total funding. The EPA will make more funds available for clean school buses this year.
