Michigan school districts get electric buses through bipartisan infrastructure law grants

Dozens of school systems in Michigan are among the early recipients of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants to upgrade to electric school buses. The funding comes from a provision of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The bipartisan infrastructure law was signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 and included an influx of federal funds to improve roads, bridges, water systems, broadband, and power grid resiliency. It also included funds to create the Clean School Bus program, providing rebates and direct grants to local school districts to replace their current school buses with new zero-emission electric buses. 

Michigan Democratic U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow voted for the package, as did Democratic Reps. Debbie Dingell, Dan Kildee, Elissa Slotkin, and Haley Stevens. Republican Reps. Jack Bergman, Bill Huizenga, Lisa McClain, John Moolenaar, and Tim Walberg and Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib voted no.

“I’m proud to have supported the bipartisan infrastructure law that is now providing this funding to help replace school buses across Michigan,” Peters said in an October 2022 press release. “We need to be working to tackle climate change, improve air quality and protect our children’s health as they ride to school each day, and these low and zero-emission buses are a great step forward.” 

“Electric school buses will make a big difference for schools across Michigan,” said Stabenow. “This investment will improve air quality while helping our school districts cut their transportation costs and keep more resources in the classroom. It’s a great step to protect the health of our children and save schools money.”

To date, the EPA has announced initial grants to hundreds of school districts across all 50 states, enabling those communities to purchase more than 8,000 electric school buses. 

In Michigan, those grants have been awarded to fund buses in Brimley, Dearborn, Detroit, Flint, Harbor Beach, Homer, Pontiac, Ubly, and Ypsilanti.

In January, the Lansing School District received a $6 million grant to buy 15 electric school buses. 

In an emailed statement, the school district’s chief operating officer Kristina Tokar told the Michigan Independent that the first buses should arrive next summer and be operational at the start of the 2025-2026 school year: “We are thrilled to have received these electric bus grants, as they represent a significant step forward for our community. These buses are not only much leaner, with zero particulate emissions, but they also come at a crucial time for Lansing, a community with some of the highest asthma rates in the nation.

“Transitioning to electric buses will directly benefit the health of our students and residents,” Tokar continued. “Additionally, the lower total cost of ownership and reduced maintenance needs compared to traditional diesel buses make this a smart and sustainable choice for our district. With this initiative, the Lansing School District is proud to position itself as a national leader in clean technologies.”

A grant to the Mason County Eastern School District in Custer was approved in January for two electric school buses.

Its superintendent Paul Shoup told the Michigan Independent in an interview that the district also received funds from the state government, part of its $125 million Clean Bus Energy Grant program, to cover the remainder of the costs for the buses and installation of charging stations.

Shoup said that buses and transportation are expensive in his rural district, which serves more than 200 kids in a 210-square-mile area. He hopes the electric buses will save the district money: “They are promoted as being more efficient. … They’re promoted as, repairs will be less, fewer moving parts, which creates potentially fewer things to break down. The efficiency, it’s promoted as more efficient than diesel to run them, promoted as more efficient in cost savings mechanically to keep buses repaired. So that’s what led me to be willing to try these. And by going with two, we’ll be able to collect the data to see about moving forward.“ 

With an annual total school budget of about $4.1 million, spending more than $300,000 for an electric bus without the grants would simply not be possible for the district. Thanks to the infrastructure law, Shoup expects to complete the purchases within the next month and to have the buses ready to go at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. 

Stabenow is retiring after the current term, and Slotkin is the Democratic nominee to succeed her.  

In January, Slotkin cheered the approval of electric school bus grants for schools in her district and the rest of the state: “This announcement is just one more example of how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to deliver for Michiganders. The Lansing School District will receive funds for 15 new electric and low-emission buses that will reduce harmful air pollution for Lansing students who take the bus to school. And other school districts across the state will benefit, as well. As Michigan continues to lead the way when it comes to electric vehicles, it will be great to see the next generation taking them to school.”

Her Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, once backed electric vehicles but has spent this year’s campaign criticizing EV technology and the Biden-Harris administration’s infrastructure investments laws.

In a September 2023 Detroit Free Press op-ed titled “Biden’s EV plan will kill Michigan jobs,” Rogers made the claim, which research has refuted, that electric vehicles are more efficient to build and will cause the elimination of jobs in the auto industry. In fact, research has shown, it takes more labor hours to produce EVs.