
Every day of the school year, 25 million children travel to and from school on buses. The problem? The vast majority of these buses run on diesel and spew large amounts of toxic tailpipe pollution directly into the air that our children breathe day in and day out.
But EPA is on a mission to change that.
Yesterday, the agency announced that it will distribute nearly $1 billion in grant awards through its Clean School Bus Program, which helps school districts replace their dirty diesel buses with zero- and low-emissions models. With this new round of funding, EPA estimates that nearly 7 million more children in the U.S. will have access to a clean ride to school.
As our Senior Legislative and Regulatory Policy Manager, Melody Reis, says in a statement in response to the awards announcement: “Tailpipe pollution from diesel school buses doesn’t just smell bad—it’s dangerous. It’s known to trigger asthma attacks, interfere with learning, and it can even cause cancer. Electric school buses, on the other hand, do not produce any tailpipe pollution, eliminating the health risks associated with exhaust.”
This $1 billion announcement is approximately double what EPA had originally committed to distributing during this funding cycle and reflects the nation’s growing demand for greener alternatives to the traditional, diesel-powered yellow school bus. Melody points out that this investment in cleaner air is a critical move toward environmental justice: “Low-income students and students of color are disproportionately vulnerable to the health impacts of dirty diesel buses because they are more likely to rely on school buses for transportation and are more likely to live near other major sources of pollution.”
Moms look forward to working with EPA to bring more electric school buses to communities—prioritizing those facing economic, racial, and environmental injustice—until every child has access to the clean air that they deserve.
Read our fact sheet to learn more about the benefits of electric school buses.