Students in Seven Oregon School Districts Looking Forward to a Cleaner Ride Thanks to Federal Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of 67 applicants to receive about $1 billion to support clean school buses across the country. Here in Oregon, funding for electric school buses and infrastructure will go to one Oregon school district and a third-party company that provides transportation services to multiple school districts thanks to these federal dollars.

The 2023 Clean School Bus Grants were supported by funds from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The U.S. EPA initially planned to award about $400 million in funds, but the demand was so high for projects across the nation that the agency doubled the amount to nearly $1 billion.

Oregon school districts and school transportation providers will receive over $36 million to purchase about 96 electric buses and supporting infrastructure. The Oregon communities supported include:

• Beaverton

• Amity

• Dayton

• Gresham

• McMinnville

• Portland

• Willamina

The U.S. EPA also has a Clean School Bus Rebate Program that could support even more electric school buses in Oregon communities. Applications for rebates are due January 31, 2024.

The Oregon Department of Energy administers the Public Purpose Charge Schools Program, which also provides funding for school districts to make energy efficiency improvements or purchase electric school buses and supporting infrastructure. ODOE celebrated the first electric school buses supported, in part, by Public Purpose Charge funds in 2023 in Bend-La Pine and Beaverton.