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The Ritenour School District, based in Overland, will receive about $9.5 million to acquire 24 buses, while the Ferguson-Florissant School District will get more than $6.3 million to purchase 16 of the electric vehicles.

The two St. Louis County districts were chosen as Missouri’s only recipients of this round of funding through the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program — part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is pouring $5 billion into transforming school bus fleets nationwide.

But the initiative could also deliver some additional clean buses to the region — and elsewhere in the state — through third-party busing companies, such as Highland, which helps schools electrify their bus fleets.

That company is getting almost $20.8 million to buy 70 buses for use in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. Some of those buses expected to be destined for St. Louis Public Schools and the Normandy Schools Collaborative.

It’s not the first such wave of funding that has helped electrify Missouri’s school bus fleets. In 2022, for instance, 25 rural districts in the state received nearly $22 million from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Rebate Program, to replace up to about 55 fuel-powered buses with electric ones.

Officials at Ritenour touted the multiple benefits that the bus funding could provide for the district, which will be able to swap out its entire daily bus fleet with electric vehicles.

“It feels great. We’re very excited about it,� said Dwight Lindhorst, the district’s chief financial officer.

Ritenour expects to see substantial savings in operation and maintenance costs — like the elimination of the $160,000 in annual fuel costs and $15,000 per year in oil changes it spends on its current buses. Altogether, the new buses are estimated to save the district around $200,000 each year, Lindhorst said. 

“With salaries and benefits, that equates to about three teachers,� he said.

He said the electric buses have about 130 miles per charge — far more than enough for a school district that covers just nine square miles. For instance, Lindhorst said the district only has two routes that exceed 30 miles a day, so  the new buses can go days between charges.

The district plans to keep four of its existing buses for longer trips.

The EPA funding covers the costs of installing charging equipment, according to Lindhorst — meaning that Ritenour does not expect any out-of-pocket costs associated with its bus overhaul.

The district intends to place its orders for the buses as soon as possible, and expects to receive them in nine months to a year.

The Ferguson-Florissant School District did not respond to a request for comment.