UPDATE, May 30, 2024, 4:30 p.m.: The Batesville School District has decided to decline the federal grant. Click here for more information from White River Now.
The Batesville School District will receive over $360,000 in federal funds to purchase a new electric school bus.
According to the Arkansas Advocate, Batesville is one of four school districts in the state that received the funding. A total of about $11 million was allocated to Arkansas for purchasing clean-energy school buses as part of the Biden administration’s effort to replace diesel-powered ones.
The administration’s initiative, part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program rebate competition, will provide about 530 school districts in 47 states and the District of Columbia funds to help buy more than 3,400 clean buses.
According to the administration, 92% of the clean school buses purchased will be electric.
The Little Rock School District will receive the largest share of the funds sent to Arkansas — $8.625 million — to buy 25 electric buses. In addition to the $365,000 set for Batesville, other districts and the amounts they’re slated to receive are Farmington ($1.220 million for six buses) and Quitman ($820,000 for four buses).
According to the White House, the Clean School Bus Program has now collectively awarded nearly $3 billion to fund approximately 8,500 electric and alternative fuel buses for over 1,000 communities across the United States.
The program started through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden, which includes $5 billion over five years to transform the country’s existing school buses with “zero-emission and low-emission models,” per the EPA.
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