Frederick County Public Schools has ordered six more electric school buses and the accompanying charging infrastructure using state grants.
The Frederick County Board of Education in a split vote on Wednesday accepted two separate grants to help pay for the buses, the charging infrastructure and training for six transportation technicians.
The grants together total $2.4 million, which does not cover the full cost. FCPS will have to pay for nearly $600,000.
FCPS since January has considered buying more electric school buses. The school district currently has two in its fleet that are used to transport students in special education programs across the school district.
School board members Rae Gallagher, Dean Rose, Karen Yoho and Janie Inglis Monier voted to accept the grants.
Members Colt Black, Jaime Brennan and Nancy Allen were opposed.
Black, Brennan and Allen in June opposed a contract to purchase the buses.
Black has said it was ridiculous to pursue an electric fleet, and that the buses are not an environmental solution.
The school district has said purchasing the buses is mandated by the Maryland Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, which requires the school districts statewide to begin transitioning toward a zero-emission fleet.
One of the grants is from the Maryland Energy Administration and is worth $1.8 million.
FCPS plans for that money to pay for four electric school buses at a total of $1.2 million, installing the charging infrastructure at a cost of $553,153 and training six transportation technicians, which will cost $7,200.
The second grant is $600,000 from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
FCPS plans to pay for two more electric school buses with that grant. Including the two current electric buses, FCPS would have eight electric school buses out of a 466-bus fleet.
Fred Punturiero, the director of FCPS’ transportation department, has said the school district is planning to shift from sequential charging to bi-directional charging.
He said it was similar to a gas pump with two handles, and that two buses will be able to charge at the same time.
The school board in June approved a contract to purchase electric school buses through American Truck & Bus of Annapolis and K Neal International Trucks of Hyattsville.
Each bus purchased from American Truck & Bus will cost $405,749, and each bus purchased from K Neal International Trucks will cost $422,638.
The grants do not cover the entire cost of the buses.
Eric Louérs–Phillips, a spokesperson for FCPS, wrote in an email on Thursday that all six buses were ordered from American Truck & Bus at a price of $405,749 per bus.
The Maryland Energy Administration grant paid for up to $310,269 per bus for four of the buses, leaving FCPS to cover the remaining $95,480 per bus.
The Maryland Department of the Environment grant contributed $300,000 per bus for two more buses that cost the same amount — $405,749.
That leaves FCPS to pay the remaining $105,749 per bus.
In total, for six more electric school buses, FCPS paid nearly $600,000.
Louérs–Phillips wrote that the goal was to have the buses operating by the 2026-27 school year.
Punturiero at the school board work session on Wednesday said the electric school bus routes would most likely be in the city of Frederick and its outskirts.
Black raised a concern he had raised at the June school board meeting, which is that some FCPS bus drivers park the bus outside their homes or businesses and would be unable to charge them.
He said for rural bus drivers especially, being able to park the bus outside their home may be an attractive part of the job. Without that ability, Black said, the school district might find itself in more of a bus driver shortage.
“I think that it’s just a horrible, horrible business model,” he said.
Punturiero said out of the 466 buses in the FCPS fleet, about 100 of them are parked at the bus driver’s house.
Rose said he appreciated that the school district was able to get a significant discount on the buses.