Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is poised to add 25 electric school buses to its fleet after being selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to receive a taxpayer-funded grant.
The grant is part of the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, which seeks to spend $5 billion in federal taxpayer money to replace traditional diesel-powered school buses with low- and zero-emission vehicles in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate health risks to student bus riders who are routinely exposed to diesel exhaust.
DISD will receive $7.1 million from the program pool to fund the acquisition of electric buses. It is just one of 389 applicants that will be receiving a cut of $5 billion.
“I can’t wait to see the new buses rolling down our streets, picking up our students with zero emissions, making our air cleaner and more breathable for generations to come,” said DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, per a district news release.
EPA officials joined Elizalde and members of a North Texas congressional delegation to celebrate DISD’s receipt of the grant last Tuesday.
“Today’s funding will provide a critical investment to climate security and children’s futures here in North Texas,” claimed North Texas Congressman Marc Veasey, according to an EPA news release.
The Clean School Bus Program was just one of a myriad of “environmental justice and equity” measures crammed into the enormous “Bipartisan” Infrastructure Law recently enacted by the Biden administration, some of which have been characterized as a federal handout of taxpayer money to electric vehicle manufacturers.
There is also the question of whether DISD can responsibly administer the grant funds, having previously come under scrutiny a couple of years ago for alleged misspending and possible criminal conduct in its procurement practices, per WFAA.
Even with a new superintendent at the helm, it is unclear whether the district can shake its poor reputation. Case in point, The Dallas Express conducted a poll in September that found 49% of respondents felt that DISD suffers from mismanagement.