Bureau Valley to receive $1.7 million in rebate funding to buy 5 clean school buses

The Bureau Valley Community Unit School District was selected Wednesday to receive $1,725,000 in rebate funding to purchase five clean school buses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced 28 school districts across Illinois will benefit from the 2023 Clean School Bus Program rebate competition, funded by President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda, including Bureau Valley.

The program will help Illinois accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles and to replace existing school buses, which have been linked to asthma and other conditions that harm the health of students and surrounding communities.

In September 2023, the EPA announced the availability of at least $500 million for its 2023 Clean School Bus rebates. The rebate application period closed in February 2024 with an outstanding response from school districts across the country seeking to purchase electric and clean school buses. Given the demand, including in low-income communities, Tribal nations and U.S. territories, the EPA doubled the amount of available funding to nearly $1 billion.

This third round of funding will build on the previous almost $2 billion investment via the 2022 rebates and 2023 grants.