Stockton Unified School District rolls out 35 electric school buses with $15M EPA grant

The Stockton Unified School District is adding 35 new electric buses to its fleet thanks to $15 million in grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez, Board Vice President Sofia Colón, Congressman Josh Harder and environmental advocates gathered at Edison High School to unveil the electric buses on Thursday.

Speaking to a crowd of students inside of Taggart Gym, Harder said he had childhood asthma and had to remember to pack his inhaler every morning before heading to school.

Now that he's a father of two, the congressman said it's his goal to make sure his children don't breathe the same air he did.

"We know that Stockton has air quality problems, but bills like this don't happen just by accident," Harder said. "It's because of the effort that was propelled by students and teachers across the county who told me how important this was going to be."

In June, the congressman announced that the Stockton Unified School District would receive federal funding to replace the diesel school buses with new, clean electric buses as part of the EPA's Clean School Buses Program.

Created by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Clean School Bus Program received $5 billion to transform the nation’s school bus fleet. The program funds electric buses, which produce zero tailpipe emissions, and propane and compressed natural gas buses, which produce lower tailpipe emissions than their diesel predecessors.

Diesel pollution is linked to asthma and other conditions that harm students' health, with impacts felt disproportionately in communities of color and Tribal communities, according to the EPA.

"Many of the federal investments don't often get to communities like Stockton, and so the president urged all of us to ensure that at least 40% of all of the money under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law got to communities like Stockton," EPA Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said.

Guzman added that the replacement of 40 diesel buses is going to eliminate 67,600,000 tons of carbon dioxide over a 12-year period.

"That's equivalent to over a thousand cars taken off the road," Guzman said.

In recent years, Stockton Unified has also received a $784,000 grant from the California Energy Commission, $1.89 million from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, $496,000 in utility rebates from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and $200,000 from a California Energy Commission grant for the purchase of additional electric school buses, according to a report by the Electric School Bus Initiative.

Rodriguez said the district's goal is to be 100% electric by 2027. It will be adding another 20 electric buses to its fleet in March.

"SUSD is pleased to provide electric buses for our students. These buses are air conditioned, have Wi-Fi, and provide clean air for students and our community," Rodriguez said.

Stockton Unified, which serves nearly 40,000 students across 55 schools, is located in a city that is known to have some of the highest asthma rates in the state. California ranks Stockton in the 96th percentile for pollution burden and the 100th percentile for asthma.

Jazmarie LaTour, asthma mitigation director at Little Manila Rising, said the district's new electric buses "are one huge step to make it possible for children in this community to live happy and long lives."

"Stockton continues to have some of the most polluted air. We are the second city in the state with highest asthma rates. One in five children in this Valley has asthma," LaTour said, adding that institutions like Stockton Unified must continue to work toward "reducing emissions in any way (they) can."

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton Unified rolls out 35 electric school buses with $15M EPA grant