Shoreline Public Schools receives Electric School Bus Grant

Shoreline Public Schools has been awarded more than $600,000 in grants from the Washington State Department of Ecology to help in the purchase of two zero-emission electric school buses. The grants are intended to cover the difference between an electric bus and a conventional diesel bus.

Shoreline will use the grants to purchase two electric school buses along with electrical charging stations. The district will receive a $300,000 reimbursement for each bus and $14,000 for charging stations.

The district will purchase one electric bus in the summer of 2021 and another in the summer of 2022. Each bus will have an estimated range of 100 miles.

“We are really excited to have been selected receive these grants,” said Shoreline Schools Transportation Director Mary Sherman. “Adding these electric school buses to our fleet will allow us to reduce our carbon emissions and improve air quality for our students and community members.”

Shoreline Public Schools is one of 22 school districts across the state selected for the grants, which total almost $12 million statewide. Funding from Washington’s Volkswagen diesel emission settlement will pay for the buses.

The Volkswagen settlements stem from the discovery that the carmaker illegally installed software on its diesel cars that activated emission controls only when it detected the emissions were being tested, violating the state and federal Clean Air Acts.

According to the Department of Ecology, the grants are intended to accelerate replacing older diesel school buses and help cover the additional costs of purchasing an electric bus. School districts can also use some of the funding to pay for charging stations for the buses.