Senator Murray Announces Nearly $15 Million for Clean School Buses Across WA State Through Program She Established in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Funding comes from program Senator Murray established in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will allow 20 school districts across WA to replace existing school buses with new low- and zero-emission models

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Senator Murray: “Getting more clean school buses on our roads is a win for students, our planet, and our economy—and that’s exactly what I had in mind when I created this program.”

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $14,899,500 in federal funding for twenty school districts across Washington state to replace their diesel-powered school buses with low- and zero-emission models. The funding comes from Senator Murray’s Clean School Bus Act which was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and provided $5 billion in funding for low- and zero-emission school buses. Murray’s legislation created a competitive grant program, the Clean School Bus Program, for school districts and other eligible entities to apply for funding to replace their diesel buses with clean models. The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in Washington state, twenty school districts will receive Clean School Bus Program awards to fund dozens of new electric buses.

Overall, EPA’s announcement today of nearly $1 billion through the first Clean School Bus Program Grants Competition will allow 67 selected applications to purchase over 2,700 clean school buses in 280 school districts serving over 7 million students across 37 states. School districts in low-income, rural, and/or Tribal communities made up approximately 86% of the projects selected for funding.

“Getting more clean school buses on our roads is a win for students, our planet, and our economy—and that’s exactly what I had in mind when I created this program,” said Senator Murray. “Out of every 20 school buses in our country, 19 still use diesel fuel, and that means far too many kids and drivers are breathing in polluted air every time they board an old diesel school bus. Replacing these buses with cleaner alternatives just makes sense, and I’m thrilled to see that $15 million from my Clean School Bus Program is going out the door to help school districts across Washington state electrify their fleets.”

Every day, more than 25 million children and thousands of bus drivers breathe polluted air during their commute to school, which has a negative impact on students’ health and academic performance, particularly for students with asthma and other respiratory conditions—and transportation accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. With approximately 500,000 school buses on the road traveling over 3 billion miles per year, this investment will assist school districts in transitioning to cleaner buses and reducing emissions nationwide—and comes as school districts across Washington state are committing to electrifying their school bus fleets.

School districts in Washington state that will be receiving funding through this round of the Clean School Bus Program Grants Competition to replace diesel buses with electric buses include: Snohomish School District (3 buses), Lake Washington School District (3), Central Valley Spokane (5) Everett School District (Durham) (3), South Whidbey School District (1), Mead School District (2), Pullman School District (1), West Valley Spokane (3), Selkirk (1), Rearden (2), Chewelah School District (1), Tekoa School District (2), Republic School District (1) Tonasket School District (1), Toppenish (3), Wapato School District (1), Wilson Creek School District (1), and Walla Walla Public Schools (15). 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 electric buses across eight school districts in Washington and Oregon, including Seattle and Tacoma.

More information about the Clean School Bus Program grant funding is HERE.

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