EDITOR’S TAKE
Alternative to Fueling Discomfort Written by Ryan Gray |
ryan@stnonline.com L
ast year, the appetite for electric school buses waned. The reason had a lot to do with Pres- ident Donald Trump retaking the Oval Office and signing numerous executive orders that
changed course on the drive toward zero emissions. The Clean School Bus Program was shelved until
recently, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agen- cy expected at press time to finally announced it would make good on awarding the final $2.5 billion remaining in the five-year $5 million program. Seemingly it comes the official re-emergence of diesel, which had been ob- vious across all sectors. Diesel is 90 percent cleaner than it was two decades
ago and, while it still emits harmful particulate matter especially for children’s developing lungs, it remains the fuel type of choice for many fleets due to its workhorse and longevity characteristics. That makes federal sub- sidies for drop-in biodiesel blends, which many school districts have been using for decades, and renewable diesel especially attractive. Granted, maintaining diesel systems has become
more arduous and expensive. And those costs extend to the fuel pump. Petroleum prices were already volatile, then the Iran
war broke out. The Strait of Hormuz closed, and the price of oil soared well past $100 a barrel. Diesel and gasoline prices followed suit globally. Despite the U.S. opening domestic oil reserves, those prices have stayed high, and there is no end in sight. This has spelled doom for school districts and school bus operators. The National Association for Pupil Transportation and
AASA: The Superintendents Association conducted a survey last month that illustrates the impacts. Of the 188 school districts responding, 22 percent said their diesel fuel costs increased by 11- to 20 percent over their cur- rent school year budget. Another 20 percent said they are 6- to 10 percent over budget. Scott Lee, the director of transportation for Wash- oe County School District in Nevada, said diesel costs increased a whopping 89 percent from January of this year to May, rising from $3.01 per gallon to $5.69 per gal- lon. The Reno-area school district, however, seemingly has it better than a lot of states in terms of actual prices being paid. Outside of Portland, Oregon, the Beaverton School District was paying $6.57 per gallon through
10 School Transportation News • JUNE 2026
April, a 38-percent increase from $4.77 paid last July. The saving grace for school districts like Beaverton
and Washoe is a reliance on electric and propane school buses. Craig Beaver, who retires as director of transporta- tion this summer, said the fleet of electric school buses is closing in on the sweet spot of achieving 1.5 kWh per mile efficiency. In April, the school district’s Type C and Type D electric school buses averaged 1.6 kW per mile, the best mark since last October, when the average was 1.59. Meanwhile, both he and Washoe County’s Lee are also
increasingly relying on propane. Lee shared that pro- pane fueling cost remains relatively flat with an increase of 4 percent for fiscal year 2027, at which point the dis- trict also is purchasing another six propane school buses for the 2026-2027 school year. Beaver said he kept the budget the same for the com- ing school year, as more electric and propane school buses will be on the road at a cheaper cost. This, he added, will hopefully offset the increase in diesel cost per gallon over the course of the year. “It’s a good plan, as long as the Strait of Hormuz opens
up in the next month or two. We will have minimal diesel usage this summer as well,” he shared. “Only use those buses for long trips. Everything else will be EV supplemented by propane.” Beaverton’s long-term plan includes transitioning all 140 Type D school buses in the fleet to propane over the next five to eight years, once Blue Bird comes to market with an option. The writing on the wall, no matter the politics at play, is the TCO of both electric and propane pencil out. Despite higher upfront costs, both options are often sur- passing diesel in terms of lifetime fuel and maintenance csts. That story was also told at ACT Expo last month, in the 2026 State of Sustainable Fuels report. With the Clean School Bus Program relaunching and
no matter the assumed new funding mechanism for biodiesel and renewal diesel, millions if not billions of dollars will be spent in the coming years to add more electric and propane school buses to the national fleet. And that is welcome news in a world where fuel
volatility and higher new vehicle purchase prices will continue. ●
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