School Bus Replacements
Funding is available for school districts to modernize their school bus fleets to cleaner technologies.
Eligibility Criteria
Additional criteria can be found in the 2017 Carl Moyer Program Guidelines, Chapter 4: On-Road Heavy-Duty Vehicles, and in the grant application (linked below).
- Only public school districts that own their own buses or Joint Power Authorities (JPA) between public schools are eligible to apply.
- Existing buses must be greater than 14,000 GVWR.
- The existing bus must be in operational condition and have operated in the school district’s fleet for at least two years.
- For school bus electric conversions, the baseline vehicle chassis must be ten years old or newer. CHP requires engineering plans, certified by a California licensed engineer, to be able to safety certify the school bus.
- School buses subject to the Truck and Bus Regulation are only eligible if they meet one of the following requirements:
- The existing school bus must have an OEM diesel particulate filter (DPF) installed.
- The existing school bus must be retrofitted with a DPF that reduces diesel PM emissions by at least 85%.
- The existing school bus must be reported in TRUCRS under the Low-Use exemption.
- School bus fleets must be reported in TRUCRS.
Applications & Forms
- Applications may be submitted by either using the online School Bus Replacement CAG Application Form (only available during an open application period) or by filling out and submitting a PDF application.
Waitlist
Applicants will receive notification of project status via email within 30 days of application receipt. Applicants that are not awarded funds due to a lack of funding, but would otherwise be eligible for a grant have the option of being placed on a waitlist. Applicants will automatically remain on the waitlist for up to 6 months. Applicants that would like to remain on the waitlist after 6 months have passed must email us a request.
Resources
AB 181 School District Transportation Service Plans
California Assembly Bill 181 requires as a condition of receiving apportionments that a local educational agency (LEA) that offers home-to-school transportation services shall develop a plan describing the transportation services it will offer. The plan shall be developed in consultation with local air districts and other stakeholder groups and adopted by their governing board on or before April 1, 2023, and updated by April 1 each year thereafter.
"SEC. 14. 39800.1. (b) (1) The Plan shall be developed in consultation with classified staff, teachers, school administrators, regional local transit authorities, local air pollution control districts and air quality management districts, parents, pupils, and other stakeholders."
Additional information can also be found on the California Department of Education’s Home-to-School Transportation Reimbursement page.
The District offers several funding opportunities for school bus fleet modernization through its Clean Air Grant Program that LEA’s can take advantage of when developing their plans.
There are also many programs offered by other agencies that include funding for school buses and other transportation vehicles used by schools. Please see our Other Funding Opportunities page to learn more.
The District does not review Transportation Service Plans; however, we encourage LEA's to consider the available funding opportunities on our website and address the following in their plans:
- Continue to replace current, high-polluting school buses and other vehicles used for student transportation with near-zero and zero-emission available options. We highly encourage the use of available grant funding to help deploy the cleanest technologies available in your transportation replacement plans.
- Offer and promote alternatives to single occupancy vehicles (to the maximum extent possible), such as carpooling or ridesharing programs, van service, walking, biking and bike sharing programs, and safe routes to school to minimize criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
LEA’s that have reviewed the funding opportunities and considered the information on the webpage can state that they have prepared their Transportation Service Plan in consultation with the District and are aware of the incentives offered to modernize their school bus fleet with cleaner engines in order to improve air quality.