Some Washington State students will feel the impact of a $14,898,500 funding investment in low or no-emission school buses in the coming academic year, based in part on the work established in the Biden–Harris Administration’s Investing in America initiative. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced these awards as part of its Clean School Bus Program’s grants competition, which aims to support sustainable transportation in schools. This initiative aligns with the presidential administration’s expressed commitment to investing in the future of education and the environment.

Michael Regan, director of the EPA, announced the $1 billion in awards. “I have to tell you, as a father of a 10-year-old, I am thinking about the clean air that our children will breathe, the reduction of incidences of youth respiratory distress, and their ability to fully embrace education without being distracted from illnesses,” said Regan, referring to the program’s replacement of carbon-emitting diesel buses with electric or low-carbon vehicles.

Just as students are getting back into the swing of things post winter break, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 67 recipients of the EPA’s first Clean School Bus Program’s Grants Competition. The awards were possible thanks to President Joe Biden’s Investing in America initiative, and will allow for more than 2,700 school buses in 280 school districts serving over seven million students.

“It’s an exciting day for us to be able to announce this $1 billion, which will be a shot in the arm to get clean school buses to every community, sooner, rather than later,” Michael Regan, Director of the EPA, tells Parents.