Federal funding of $19.2M providing 14 districts with 59 school buses

Fourteen school districts in North Carolina will replace 59 school buses through $19.2 million in rebate funding by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Clean School Bus Program Awards is sending 25 clean school buses to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 10 to Ascend Leadership Academy, and nine to Columbus County Schools. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg system’s rebate funding is for more than $8.6 million.

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 is the primary source of funding to the Biden administration program. It included $5 billion to transform the national fleet of school buses to electric, propane, and compressed natural gas buses.

In a release, interim EPA Region 4 Administrator Jeaneanne Gettle said, “Clean transportation investments will have lasting impacts on protecting clean air for the environment.”

She said the funding “will allow children across the Southeast to breathe cleaner air and communities will reap tremendous health benefits.”

Charter school bus recipients, in addition to Ascend, included The Arts Based School in Winston-Salem; East Voyager Academy in Charlotte; FernLeaf Community in Fletcher; KIPP Gaston College Preparatory in Gaston; KIPP Halifax College Preparatory in Halifax; North East Carolina Prep in Tarboro; Shining Rock Classical in Waynesville; Southeastern Academy in Lumberton; Telra Institute in Charlotte; Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington; and Woods Charter in Chapel Hill.

Cabarrus County Schools is the other district getting buses.