The message from New York’s Democrats and their Green New Deal is ‘Go All Electric or Go Home’ for school buses across the state.
As the 2024-25 school year is about to begin, also beginning is intense pressure from Albany for all school districts across the state of New York to transition every school bus to electric. A full transition to electric buses is mandated by 2035. Most districts still rely on diesel buses, but New York has said ‘No’ to purchasing any new diesel buses by 2027 and a complete phase-out of all diesel buses by 2035.
New York is just one of four states requiring transition to all-electric school buses. If this mandate stands, about 50,000 school buses, operated by 1000 school districts, would have to be replaced with very expensive, new electric buses.
No consideration for hills versus flat, rural versus suburban, or expected winter weather conditions for any districts has been built into the mandate. Districts and parents worry about whether the charge is affected by cold weather and there are concerns about the weight of the buses impacting roads and bridges.
Add to that, the current range for an electric bus is about 120 miles. That’s a problem for rural school districts and field trips and sports games often take students further than that.
There have been efforts to push back or repeal the mandate citing costs and reliability, but Albany Democrats have turned their backs. Governor Hochul and Democrats in the Senate and Assembly continue to support New York’s Green New Deal, no matter the costs in dollars, reliability, and even safety for New York’s taxpayers and students.
“The mandate is not scheduled to completely go into effect until 2035 and we understand that there are efforts by elected officials to extend that deadline by possibly another 10 years. We are keeping a sharp eye on any new developments and how they may impact transportation costs in the future,” said James Montalto, Public Relations Director for the William Floyd School District.
With the costs of full electrification extraordinarily high, and state subsidies using taxpayer money only covering a portion of the transition, the taxpayers in already cash-strapped school districts are going to be faced with even more costs.
How much does the electrification of school buses cost?
First, there is the cost of the buses. A transitional diesel school bus costs about $150,000 while an electric school bus costs $400-460,000 – 300% more.
Buying the bus is just one expense. Districts and independent bus companies also have to make expensive infrastructure changes. They will need to install charging stations, school bus barn electrical capacity improvements, and often extensive building renovations.
Wm. Floyd District, and many other Suffolk County districts, contract for transportation services and would not be purchasing any electric buses themselves, or building the infrastructure necessary to charge them, but they can be assured that substantially higher costs are coming their way in the next round of transportation contract negotiations.
School bus contractors are going to pass their increased costs for buses and infrastructure on to the school districts and that means either higher taxes or reduced programs and services for the students and taxpayers.
There is so much uncertainty and expense associated with this mandate that some districts and bus companies have said they will buy traditional buses for as long as possible and hope they keep them running for the next 15-20 years. Maybe technology will catch up in that time or maybe Albany will come to its senses.
No one said they were opposed to electric buses where it made sense. It is the one-size-fits-all mandate and the speed of transition that is giving school districts angina.
“From a financial standpoint, our transportation contracts now have to be negotiated and the district's taxpayers, rural taxpayers, are going to incur the cost of this, especially in a tax cap era where transportation is within the cap, said Three Village Superintendent, Kevin Scanlon. “Security is also within the cap. Fifteen years ago it was $500,000. Now it is $3 million. We can’t continue to pile on expenses.”
How will districts pay for this mandate?
Full conversion by 2035 will cost approximately $20 billion. The cost over and above what school districts already pay for replacement buses is projected to cost between $8 billion and $15 billion statewide. The State’s mandate places a heavy burden on taxpayers that are already dealing with a tough economy and less in their pockets for their family at the end of each week.
"It's going to likely cost us four times as much for our transportation. And while the funding from the governor and EPA is welcome, it's a one-shot deal. We are left with the costs after that,” said Scanlon.
"We'll have to make cuts - particularly in staffing to meet the mandate and stay within the tax cap,” Scanlon added. “When you keep adding things up on tax cap levels, like when is that going to stop there's another unfunded mandate by the state of New York that we're all going to occur and at what expense for the education of children."
The electric bus mandate is happening at the same time the Governor has proposed to change the foundation aid formula that would reduce statewide school aid by $412 million. Adding costs at a time when funding is being reduced is a double whammy for these districts.
“School board members are going to be making decisions about academic programs over batteries - that's what this is going to come down to. This is the granddaddy of unfunded mandates that I have seen in my 20-plus years being in school board service and working with public education,” said Bob Vecchio, Executive Director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
Saddling school districts with unfunded mandates while at the same time reducing state aid is reckless at best and shows that Albany legislators have no idea of how school districts run and where the money comes from – you the taxpayer.
Vecchio went on to say, “Not only do we have to pump the brakes, we have to stop it entirely. Schools are going to be paying for this before the first electric buses are on the road because if you are in negotiations with the transportation provider for a contract right now you're going to be paying those escalated costs today for the promise of higher expenses tomorrow.”
Can school districts get help?
There is some help for districts with $500 million set aside in the 2022 Environmental Bond Act to help fund the buses and new infrastructure and some funding is available through the federal government. Total funding assistance is still less than 10% of the transition costs leaving an enormous financial burden on the local school districts now and in the out years.
Some districts are considered “in need” districts and they can receive some additional costs offset funding from Albany, but that is just one time and limited.
Districts with their own fleets will have to apply and districts that have a contracted transportation service will need to partner on the application.