U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan has paid a visit to Wabaunsee USD 329 School District in Alma, Kan., to celebrate the delivery of the state’s first all-electric school buses.
Regan, joined by students, school officials, and community leaders, highlighted how initiatives like the EPA’s Clean School Bus (CSB) Program are delivering environmental and economic benefits for communities such as Wabaunsee.
“We are moving faster than ever to accelerate the transition to electric and low-emission school buses, and new electric school buses in rural school districts like Wabaunsee USD 329 are a shining of example of what we can accomplish when we invest in America,” Regan says. “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to building on this work and making investments accessible to more rural communities by partnering with electric utilities who have pledged to support school bus electrification.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided EPA with $5 billion between FY22 and FY26 to replace diesel school buses with low- and zero-emission alternatives. In May 2022, EPA launched the first funding competition, initially making $500 million in rebates available to school districts nationwide.
Given overwhelming demand, EPA nearly doubled the amount of funding for the 2022 rebates and awarded $965 million in rebates to 400 school districts for over 2,500 new clean school buses.
Wabaunsee USD 329 – a rural school district – is among the 400 school districts benefiting from these rebates. Their partner, Lion Electric, received $790,000 in rebates for two Type C electric school buses. The new buses are already transporting kids to and from school every day.
The school district partnered with the City of Alma’s municipal utility to quickly deploy electric charging infrastructure to support the transition to electric charging.