JACKSON, Miss.—Soon after a short rain, students, school officials, media, and state and national dignitaries boarded a yellow electric school bus outside Kirksey Middle School on May 29. The bus pulled out of the parking lot and took a left, beginning its trek to Hanging Moss Road.
A Jackson Police Department motorcycle escort blocked intersections while the bus made a turn onto County Line Road and again into a North Jackson neighborhood en route back to the school.
“This is nothing like the buses I remember riding on,” Mayor Chockwe A. Lumumba said from his seat near the middle of the bus. It was quieter than most, aside from the chattering voices and the sounds of tires crossing over potholes.
The bus soon arrived back at the Jackson Middle School, and riders paraded through a tunnel of students created by the band, drill team and cheerleaders into the gymnasium.
Jackson Public School and the Environmental Protection Agency organized the ride on the Blue Bird electric bus to announce the EPA’s award of $9.5 million to JPS to fund the purchase of 25 new electric buses and supporting infrastructure.
“I think a few of us were triggered through our younger days when we rode those school buses,” Jackson Public Schools Superintendent Errick Greene said during a press conference after the ride. “It might seem like a little thing to those who are not a part of that work, but to have buses that work, buses that we can rely on to get our scholars safely to and from school and to and from home and buses that help us to be good stewards of this planet (is important).”
Cleaner Rides and Healthier Students
After the ride, Mayor Lumumba, Superintendent Greene, U.S. House Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and U.S. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan addressed a crowd gathered inside the Kirksey Middle School gymnasium on the district’s final day of the school year.
“For millions of kids, the yellow school bus is not just a means of transportation, but it’s a time where they congregate with their friends, build community, (and) create those lasting memories,” Regan told the crowd. “We all know that traditional school buses rely on engines that emit toxic pollutants in the air, putting the health and well-being of every single student in jeopardy, every bus driver, every resident, every teacher that has bus duty.”
President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021, which provided the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program $5 billion to replace diesel school buses.
Regan, who is the first Black man and second person of color to lead the agency, said the EPA has awarded more than $2.7 billion to purchase more than 8,500 buses and other necessary infrastructure in 1,000 communities nationwide.
“The surrounding community is at risk, but it doesn’t have to be,” the EPA leader said. “We can do better, and because of leaders like President Biden and Congressman Thompson, we are doing better. We are reimagining what it’s like for children to ride to and from school every day.”
Thousands of Mississippi children ride the school bus to and from school daily. Black students, low-income students, and children with disabilities rely on school buses more than their peers. The vast majority of the buses that transport them run on diesel fuel. A 2021 report by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics found that 60% of low-income students and 45% of higher-income students used the bus as school transportation.
“I’m very proud to say that the majority of the communities that are receiving these school buses are communities that look like this,” Regan said. “They’re Black and brown (and) the tribal communities—the communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution for far too long.”
Much of that is due to the Justice40 Initiative, a government effort to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits from federal investments, including climate and clean energy investments, reach disadvantaged communities. The executive order allows the EPA to prioritize applications that will replace buses serving high-need local educational agencies, tribal schools, and rural or low-income areas.
Jackson Public School District Transportation Director Stephanie Harris-Martin said the district’s new electric fleet includes 25 school buses, each featuring a battery capacity of 196 kilowatt hours of drive time, which is about 25% better than today’s typical norm.
The batteries enable a range of up to 130 miles on a single charge and can fully recharge within three to four hours supporting a fast charging rate of 80 kHz. They release zero tailpipe emissions, protecting students and drivers from harmful pollutants found to contribute to respiratory disease, heart disease and cancer.
Bringing Equity to School Transportation
The Electric School Bus initiative reports that electric buses help correct years of racist and discriminatory practices against Black and low-income communities disproportionately affected by toxic air pollution. The group believes that the buses held bring equity to these communities.
“To contribute to addressing these historic and ongoing wrongs, the transition away from diesel-burning school buses to electric school buses must be equitable,” the Electric School Bus Initiative said in a 2021 article. “That means ensuring that the communities most impacted by diesel exhaust pollution have access to the benefits of electric school buses first—and that communities affected by this transition are engaged throughout the process.”
Other school districts in Mississippi are also taking advantage of the grant. The Chickasaw County School District requested 11 buses and the Clean School Bus Program awarded the district $4,345,000 in rebate funds. Hinds County, Aberdeen, Calhoun County, Grenada, Hollandale, Jackson County, Tate County, and Vicksburg Warren school districts along with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians have also received funding for electric school buses.
