Several Illinois school districts will be receiving millions in federal grant dollars to purchase electric school buses to replace gas-powered ones, Board of Education officials said.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced on December 19 that it had been awarded a $19.9 million grant from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiative “made possible by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.”
The initiative, called the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant (CHDV) program, is doling out more than $400 million to communities across the country in areas that have been designated as being in “non-attainment” with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
The nearly $20 million will be distributed to nine Illinois school districts in order to replace 70 traditional school buses with “zero-emission” electric buses, as well as to…
