APS Receives $6.9 Million in Federal Funds for Electric School Buses

Los Ranchos students on hand for announcement.

Students at Los Ranchos Elementary School had a front-row seat on Tuesday as APS Superintendent Gabriella Blakey and Sen. Martin Heinrich announced the district will be getting 20 electric buses thanks to the federal infrastructure law passed two years ago. 

Albuquerque Public Schools has been awarded $6.9 million in federal funds from the EPA Clean School Bus Program, which Heinrich helped establish. The state Public Education Department is kicking in another $1 million to round out the funding.

“These are investments that will benefit our students and our entire community for years to come,” Dr. Blakey said.

The superintendent and Sen. Heinrich were introduced at Tuesday’s news conference by Giovanni Rossi, state coordinator of Moms Clean Air Force. The organization is dedicated to protecting children from air pollution and climate change.

“This is what people are going to demand in the future. They’re going to want their kids on the brand new electric school buses,” Sen. Heinrich said, referring to the health effects of diesel exhaust. “We’re also going to learn that because a bus like this only has a couple dozen moving parts instead of a few thousand moving parts, the cost savings long-term, will be able to keep these on the road for hundreds of hundreds of thousands of miles. It’s really going to pay for itself in the long term.”

After the news conference, the Los Ranchos students climbed into the bus to get the full experience.

The buses APS will be getting through this funding won’t be the district’s first electric buses. APS has six electric buses on order that are being purchased with Volkswagen settlement money through the state Public Education Department. Those buses are expected to arrive in November.

APS transports more than 30,000 students every day on 269 buses.

“The 20 buses we plan to purchase through the Inflation Reduction Act will get us to 26 electric buses, which is about 10 percent of our total fleet,” Dr. Blakey noted.

“We’re excited to take that step, which will benefit the health of our students and staff, our community, and the environment.”