Chicago Public Schools announced a $20 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday that will allow the system to purchase a fleet of nearly 50 electric school buses over the next three years.
The announcement comes after the school system told parents that general education students would not receive busing for the rest of the school year. The grant aims to alleviate the stress on several CPS parents who are experiencing hourslong commutes due to a bus driver shortage, which has prevented CPS from providing transportation to students in previous years.
Electric buses will serve neighborhoods on the South and West sides, including Pilsen, Little Village, McKinley Park, New City, Back of the Yards, North and South Lawndale, and Chicago’s Calumet region. The purchase and introduction of the buses will begin in April and continue over a three-year period.
CPS currently does not have its own bus fleet, so the 50 electric buses will allow the district to provide its own transportation services. However, 50 buses are not enough to provide for all students who attend CPS schools. Parents are praising the green energy move but are questioning how the district will work to provide support to families without any busing.
“We strongly support CPS’ efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. However, empty seats on yellow buses are the same as empty seats on green buses. They both lead to inequity in public education,” Katie Milewski, leader of CPS Parents for Buses, said to the Chicago Tribune.
The school system has not provided transportation for students since August, instead only supplying buses for students with disabilities and students who live in temporary housing, the latter of which is federally required to have transportation services provided by the district. CPS data show that district buses transport more than 8,200 students — 8,180 diverse learners and 129 students in temporary living students — and the district allocates transportation stipends to an additional 3,903 students.
Before the schools let out for winter break, CPS said in a notice to parents that busing would not return for the 2023-24 school year, despite its hiring efforts, such as holding job fairs and increasing wages for drivers. Wages for bus drivers now range from $22 to $28 and include sign-on bonuses.
Even with the new buses, approximately 5,500 students are still without busing. Many of those students come from middle-class or low-income families who do not have time or availability to transport their children to school every day.
A CPS spokesperson said the school system will continue to use outside vendors. The EPA plans to fund an additional 30 electric buses for the district in the form of grants to third-party vendors, according to the agency.
The grant program authorizing the electric buses for the city is part of a larger plan under President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda. The EPA has provided funding to replace more than 5,000 diesel-fueled buses through grants and rebates across the country.
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Chicago environmentalists and school and city officials have praised the system’s green energy plan, stating that it is a step in the right direction toward having a cleaner school district, improved air quality, and a reduction in CPS’s carbon emissions. Chicago said in a statement to the outlet that the electric buses will benefit poor communities most affected by environmental policies and disinvestment.
The switch over to electric vehicles does come with some drawbacks, particularly in the winter months. Some Tesla drivers reported on Tuesday that several of their batteries died due to Chicago’s sub-zero temperatures, and some of the charging stations could not operate in such cold weather. It is unclear if the city will provide electric charging stations for the school buses.