OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen At left, Lake Shore Transportation Supervisor Perry Oddi is pictured with the district’s zero-emissions bus last month.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer’s office announced Monday that the Lake Shore Central (Evans-Brant) School District is the recipient of a $7.9 million grant for 20 electric school buses and charging stations.

The nearly $8 million grant will help phase out old buses in the fleet and enable the school district to purchase 20 clean school buses and 20 bus chargers. Lake Shore transports more than 2,000 students to 13 public, private and special needs locations throughout Western New York each school day. Currently, Lake Shore has 54 school buses, which means this latest grant boosts the number of zero-emission school buses in the fleet to nearly 50 percent.

Schumer said Lake Shore was one of only 67 applicants in the country to be selected as part of this round of the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program’s Grant Competition. He noted that diesel exhaust from old fossil fuel powered buses is a major contributor to air quality problems in many communities and has been linked to poor health and asthma, especially for children, whose lungs are not yet fully developed.

“I led the Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law to passage so communities across the state will have the federal funding needed to combat climate change, and now, for the second year in a row, this major investment will set the wheels in motion to put new electric school buses on New York’s roads, curbing carbon emissions, decreasing pollution, and improving the air quality for students across America. I am proud to deliver this tremendous environmental justice investment that will carry our students to a brighter future, emissions free,” said Sen. Schumer.

The EPA Clean School Bus Program is part of the State’s goal to reduce carbon emissions 85% by 2050.That goal includes requiring all school buses purchased by 2027 to be zero-emission buses, with school districts’ entire fleets to be transitioned to zero emission by 2035.

Lake Shore was an early migrator to zero emissions vehicles, previously receiving grants which helped it put Western New York’s first zero-emissions school bus on the road two years ago, and as well as a second zero-emissions school bus in 2023.

“These grants represent a very, very long road in the making,” said Lake Shore Schools’ Transportation Supervisor Perry Oddi. “The most important thing is that we now have a growing fleet of zero-emission vehicles – not low emission, but zero emission – available for our school-community. By eliminating diesel exhaust emissions, we reduce air pollution and ground level ozone, as well as air quality-related illnesses and asthma. As we decrease our carbon footprint, we’re helping to preserve the health and safety of our students and staff.”