The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) has been awarded an $809,000 federal grant to purchase one propane and three electric school buses for the Colonial School District through the federal Clean School Bus Rebate Program.
The award is part of the first $1 billion of a five-year, $5 billion program created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021 and supported by the state’s Congressional delegation.
The department – which qualifies the same as a school district as an applicant for this rebate because the state is a funder, purchaser and title owner of nearly 500 school buses – submitted rebate applications for Colonial and four other districts. The award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came from a random generation of grant applications from around the country, and Colonial’s was the first on the lottery list among the Delaware districts.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Rebate program incentivizes both electric and propane school bus purchases since both are cleaner than diesel engine buses. Delaware school bus fleet already contains about 108 propane buses. These will be Delaware’s first electric school buses.
The Clean School Bus Program will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save money for school districts and produce cleaner air, a release stated.
Diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other conditions that harm students’ health and cause them to miss school, particularly in communities of color and Tribal communities. Phasing out these diesel engines will ensure cleaner air for students, bus drivers, and school staff working near the bus loading areas, and the communities through which the buses drive each day.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve our services to our students and families while making the bus environment more appealing for our drivers,” Colonial Superintendent Jeffrey Menzer said.
The EPA rebate program requires that the new clean buses replace older school buses that are currently in service, with the primary category for replacement being diesel buses from 2010 or before.
Delaware has replaced older school buses over the last few years with newer, cleaner ones, and 99 percent of the state-owned buses were already newer than 2010, with 76 percent 2016 or newer.
