Beaverton takes the lead in Oregon school districts’ drive to electrify school buses
The movement to switch to electric school buses is accelerating around Oregon, and the Beaverton School District is leading the way.Already, the district — Oregon’s third largest with 39,000 students — has the largest electric school bus fleet in the state, with 28. Those no-emissions buses account for nearly 70% of the 42 electric school buses currently on the road for Oregon public schools.Now a $20 million grant from the federal government will allow Beaverton to purchase 50 more, all of which will be in service by May 2025.The new grant puts the district on track for its current plan to electrify a third of its fleet, or about 100 buses, by 2029.Concerns about a lack of available charging stations remain a limiting factor, however. “We don’t use the electric school buses for trips outside of our district boundaries due to range issues. This is the primary reason why we are limiting our fleet to 100 buses,” Beaverton transportation administrator Craig Beaver told The Oregonian/OregonLive.A possible reason that Beaverton has been able to move more quickly than surrounding districts: The district doesn’t contract out its bus service.Currently, of the eight Oregon districts that have electric school buses in service, only one has them through a private contractor. Gresham-Barlow contracts with First Student, which currently operates two electric buses for the district.Many other districts in Oregon contract with First Student, a private company that also received money from the federal grant: $16.5 million, enough to buy 46 low emission buses for eight districts the company serves in Oregon and Washington. The six Oregon districts are Gresham-Barlow, Portland, Willamina, Amity, Dayton and McMinnville. The two Washington districts are Seattle and Tacoma.Beaverton, the first school district in Oregon to get electric buses in 2021, has received funding from a variety of sources, including the EPA’s Clean Bus Program, Portland General Electric’s Electric School Bus Fund, Beaverton’s 2014 and 2022 school bonds, and state fleet replacement funds.“One of the fundamental reasons we began this journey is because our size enables us to take some calculated risks related to new technology which smaller districts cannot afford,” Beaver, the district transportation administrator, said.For the current school year, he said that Beaverton anticipates saving $350,000 as a result of using electric school buses.Officials with the school district say they are currently focusing their electrification efforts in two areas: Beaverton’s Title I elementary schools, which serve a concentration of students from low-income families, and special education students. Students who go to Title I schools are far more likely to have higher amounts of pollution in their neighborhoods than other students, according to online information from the Oregon Department of Energy.To date, 20 of the district’s 28 electric buses are used for special education students. District officials say the goal is to have 100% of their special education fleet powered by electricity or propane by 2029.As a result of lower emission buses, Beaver said, the district’s “most medically fragile students” will experience reduced and “eliminated diesel particulates and improved air quality.”An electric Beaverton special education school bus arrives back at Beaverton’s main bus yard to charge after a morning of dropping students off.Lucas Hellberg / The OregonianBoth bus drivers and students say they are very excited by the prospect of electric school buses.Sarah Arnold, a Beaverton bus driver, said that on her first day driving an electric school bus she noticed it was much quieter, making it a lot easier to make her announcements heard and communicate with students.“It was so much easier to drive. I wasn’t sure that the bus was on when I left this morning because it was so quiet,” said Arnold.“I could hear conservations in the back of the bus today,” she added. Natalie McWilliams, a senior at Sunset High School and the co-president of her school’s Climate Change Club, said she is excited about the district’s electric school buses because she believes they will help relieve the stigma that is sometimes associated with riding the bus.“I’ve heard that they’re quieter buses that don’t have the smell of diesel fuel,” said McWilliams. “As a kid, you don’t have a lot of choices about how you get to school, so seeing that the district really does care I think is really amazing.”Another Beaverton student said the switch to electric buses should help the district decrease its carbon footprint.“School buses often idle around a lot, especially when they pick up and drop off kids,” said Khevna Purushothaman, a sophomore at Westview High School and a member of her school’s Climate Change Club. “So, I think that electric buses would definitely help decrease carbon emissions for the district.”Chloe Gilmore, the policy lead for the Portland Youth Climate Strike and a senior at Lincoln High School in Portland, is also excited that electric school buses coming to Oregon will help reduce emissions.“I think that accessible and equitable transportation that reduces emissions will be one of the best ways that Oregon can meet our emissions reductions goals, especially because in our state, transportation makes up 30% to 40% of our total emissions,” Gilmore said. “Now that more young people care about sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions, this could be an incentive for more students to choose to ride the bus instead of driving.”Despite Gilmore’s hope, the Oregon Department of Education has not set a goal for districts to make the switch to electric transportation, according to spokesperson Peter Rudy.By contrast, in Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee is poised to sign a bill that earmarks $50 million for poorer school districts to begin purchasing electric buses and seeks to phase out the purchase of gas or diesel buses, as the prices drop for electric alternatives.Outsourcing school bus services to contractors doesn’t make it harder for school districts to electrify their bus fleets, according to districts that contract out service in the Portland metro area.A Portland Public Schools spokesperson said that district officials are open to increasing the number of electric buses, including working with private contractors to get grants to electrify their fleets.Greshman-Barlow said contractor First Student played a critical role in helping the district win grants to make the switch.“First Student has led the way in writing and pursuing the grants for the (electric) buses we have,” Greshman-Barlow spokesperson Athena Vadnais said.Jennifer Schiele, superintendent of the Lake Oswego School District with 6,900 students, said her district’s biggest obstacle to converting to an electric bus fleet is cost. Her district, which contracts with Student Transportation of America, recently announced plans to have four electric school buses in operation for the 2024-2025 school year through a grant from Portland General Electric’s Electric School Bus Fund.“An electric bus generally costs roughly three times more than a diesel or propane-powered bus,” Schiele said.While Beaverton has the most electric buses in the state so far, the relatively tiny Banks School District, about 25 miles west of Portland, could be the first in Oregon to go all electric for in-district daily routes. Banks Superintendent Brian Sica said its contractor, Mid Columbia Bus Company, is on track to help the 1,000-student district hit that milestone by fall 2024 after it secured a 2022 grant from the EPA.Outside the Portland metro area, rollout of electric school buses appears to be more difficult.The Prospect School District, with roughly 200 students, is located close to Crater Lake National Park. It originally planned to get three electric buses from a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency but is now forgoing the free federal money.Superintendent Daye Stone cited the short range of electric school buses, the inability to situate charging stations on land the district doesn’t own and student safety.“We have a ton of days where snow and cold weather dominate the landscape,” said Stone. “A dead battery on a rural mountain is a recipe for concern surrounding student safety. The hurdles were much too great to overcome at this point so we decided to pass on the grant and let another district use the money in a place that makes more sense.”A spokesperson for Bend-La Pine Schools — the fifth largest district in the state with 18,400 students — said they too are limited by location when it comes to electric buses. They currently have one electric bus, funded by a Pacific Power grant along with other funding from the state.“If we had grant support, because of the higher cost of electric buses, we would be open to future purchases. We would not be able to use electric buses for longer trips, such as over the Cascades, because of the distance limitations and the lack of charging stations where we travel,” said Bend-La Pine spokesperson Scott Maben.This story was written by Youth Voices contributor Lucas Hellberg, a senior at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego. Hellberg is an editor-in-chief for his school’s newspaper, The Newspacer, which received statewide recognition for its work last year. Hellberg, a Model UN award winner and cross country letter winner, is particularly interested in reporting on politics, education and emerging technology. In college, he plans to double major in computer science and journalism.
Oregon’s third largest district has the largest electric school bus fleet in the state, with 28.
The movement to switch to electric school buses is accelerating around Oregon, and the Beaverton School District is leading the way.
Already, the district — Oregon’s third largest with 39,000 students — has the largest electric school bus fleet in the state, with 28. Those no-emissions buses account for nearly 70% of the 42 electric school buses currently on the road for Oregon public schools.
Now a $20 million grant from the federal government will allow Beaverton to purchase 50 more, all of which will be in service by May 2025.
The new grant puts the district on track for its current plan to electrify a third of its fleet, or about 100 buses, by 2029.
Concerns about a lack of available charging stations remain a limiting factor, however. “We don’t use the electric school buses for trips outside of our district boundaries due to range issues. This is the primary reason why we are limiting our fleet to 100 buses,” Beaverton transportation administrator Craig Beaver told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
A possible reason that Beaverton has been able to move more quickly than surrounding districts: The district doesn’t contract out its bus service.
Currently, of the eight Oregon districts that have electric school buses in service, only one has them through a private contractor. Gresham-Barlow contracts with First Student, which currently operates two electric buses for the district.
Many other districts in Oregon contract with First Student, a private company that also received money from the federal grant: $16.5 million, enough to buy 46 low emission buses for eight districts the company serves in Oregon and Washington. The six Oregon districts are Gresham-Barlow, Portland, Willamina, Amity, Dayton and McMinnville. The two Washington districts are Seattle and Tacoma.
Beaverton, the first school district in Oregon to get electric buses in 2021, has received funding from a variety of sources, including the EPA’s Clean Bus Program, Portland General Electric’s Electric School Bus Fund, Beaverton’s 2014 and 2022 school bonds, and state fleet replacement funds.
“One of the fundamental reasons we began this journey is because our size enables us to take some calculated risks related to new technology which smaller districts cannot afford,” Beaver, the district transportation administrator, said.
For the current school year, he said that Beaverton anticipates saving $350,000 as a result of using electric school buses.
Officials with the school district say they are currently focusing their electrification efforts in two areas: Beaverton’s Title I elementary schools, which serve a concentration of students from low-income families, and special education students. Students who go to Title I schools are far more likely to have higher amounts of pollution in their neighborhoods than other students, according to online information from the Oregon Department of Energy.
To date, 20 of the district’s 28 electric buses are used for special education students. District officials say the goal is to have 100% of their special education fleet powered by electricity or propane by 2029.
As a result of lower emission buses, Beaver said, the district’s “most medically fragile students” will experience reduced and “eliminated diesel particulates and improved air quality.”
An electric Beaverton special education school bus arrives back at Beaverton’s main bus yard to charge after a morning of dropping students off.Lucas Hellberg / The Oregonian
Both bus drivers and students say they are very excited by the prospect of electric school buses.
Sarah Arnold, a Beaverton bus driver, said that on her first day driving an electric school bus she noticed it was much quieter, making it a lot easier to make her announcements heard and communicate with students.
“It was so much easier to drive. I wasn’t sure that the bus was on when I left this morning because it was so quiet,” said Arnold.
“I could hear conservations in the back of the bus today,” she added.
Natalie McWilliams, a senior at Sunset High School and the co-president of her school’s Climate Change Club, said she is excited about the district’s electric school buses because she believes they will help relieve the stigma that is sometimes associated with riding the bus.
“I’ve heard that they’re quieter buses that don’t have the smell of diesel fuel,” said McWilliams. “As a kid, you don’t have a lot of choices about how you get to school, so seeing that the district really does care I think is really amazing.”
Another Beaverton student said the switch to electric buses should help the district decrease its carbon footprint.
“School buses often idle around a lot, especially when they pick up and drop off kids,” said Khevna Purushothaman, a sophomore at Westview High School and a member of her school’s Climate Change Club. “So, I think that electric buses would definitely help decrease carbon emissions for the district.”
Chloe Gilmore, the policy lead for the Portland Youth Climate Strike and a senior at Lincoln High School in Portland, is also excited that electric school buses coming to Oregon will help reduce emissions.
“I think that accessible and equitable transportation that reduces emissions will be one of the best ways that Oregon can meet our emissions reductions goals, especially because in our state, transportation makes up 30% to 40% of our total emissions,” Gilmore said. “Now that more young people care about sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions, this could be an incentive for more students to choose to ride the bus instead of driving.”
Despite Gilmore’s hope, the Oregon Department of Education has not set a goal for districts to make the switch to electric transportation, according to spokesperson Peter Rudy.
By contrast, in Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee is poised to sign a bill that earmarks $50 million for poorer school districts to begin purchasing electric buses and seeks to phase out the purchase of gas or diesel buses, as the prices drop for electric alternatives.
Outsourcing school bus services to contractors doesn’t make it harder for school districts to electrify their bus fleets, according to districts that contract out service in the Portland metro area.
A Portland Public Schools spokesperson said that district officials are open to increasing the number of electric buses, including working with private contractors to get grants to electrify their fleets.
Greshman-Barlow said contractor First Student played a critical role in helping the district win grants to make the switch.
“First Student has led the way in writing and pursuing the grants for the (electric) buses we have,” Greshman-Barlow spokesperson Athena Vadnais said.
Jennifer Schiele, superintendent of the Lake Oswego School District with 6,900 students, said her district’s biggest obstacle to converting to an electric bus fleet is cost. Her district, which contracts with Student Transportation of America, recently announced plans to have four electric school buses in operation for the 2024-2025 school year through a grant from Portland General Electric’s Electric School Bus Fund.
“An electric bus generally costs roughly three times more than a diesel or propane-powered bus,” Schiele said.
While Beaverton has the most electric buses in the state so far, the relatively tiny Banks School District, about 25 miles west of Portland, could be the first in Oregon to go all electric for in-district daily routes. Banks Superintendent Brian Sica said its contractor, Mid Columbia Bus Company, is on track to help the 1,000-student district hit that milestone by fall 2024 after it secured a 2022 grant from the EPA.
Outside the Portland metro area, rollout of electric school buses appears to be more difficult.
The Prospect School District, with roughly 200 students, is located close to Crater Lake National Park. It originally planned to get three electric buses from a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency but is now forgoing the free federal money.
Superintendent Daye Stone cited the short range of electric school buses, the inability to situate charging stations on land the district doesn’t own and student safety.
“We have a ton of days where snow and cold weather dominate the landscape,” said Stone. “A dead battery on a rural mountain is a recipe for concern surrounding student safety. The hurdles were much too great to overcome at this point so we decided to pass on the grant and let another district use the money in a place that makes more sense.”
A spokesperson for Bend-La Pine Schools — the fifth largest district in the state with 18,400 students — said they too are limited by location when it comes to electric buses. They currently have one electric bus, funded by a Pacific Power grant along with other funding from the state.
“If we had grant support, because of the higher cost of electric buses, we would be open to future purchases. We would not be able to use electric buses for longer trips, such as over the Cascades, because of the distance limitations and the lack of charging stations where we travel,” said Bend-La Pine spokesperson Scott Maben.
This story was written by Youth Voices contributor Lucas Hellberg, a senior at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego. Hellberg is an editor-in-chief for his school’s newspaper, The Newspacer, which received statewide recognition for its work last year. Hellberg, a Model UN award winner and cross country letter winner, is particularly interested in reporting on politics, education and emerging technology. In college, he plans to double major in computer science and journalism.