A federal rebate program is bringing environmental action and cost savings to El Dorado Springs R-ii, a rural school district in Missouri, in the form of dozens of electric school buses slated to roll out this fall.
With more miles to cover, rural school districts often have large budgets to fuel their school buses, making for a great potential value-add, equivalent to the cost of four beginning teachers with benefits, the superintendent, Heather Oates, told the Daily Yonder.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program is a part of the Biden Administration’s Infrastructure, Investments, and Jobs Act (IIJA) passed in 2021 and award for the switch to electric buses can be up to 100% of the cost of bus replacement and charging or fueling infrastructure.
