The Woodland School District is leading the way in electrifying its school bus fleet ahead of state-mandated carbon emission reductions.
The district’s Board of Directors has accepted a $4.25 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program. Funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the grant will replace 14 local diesel school buses with electric models.
The Woodland School District oversees KWRL Transportation, which operates 125 school buses serving students in Kalama, Woodland, Ridgefield and La Center. By 2026, 14 electric buses will operate throughout the KWRL service area.
Washington state aims to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 under a law passed in 2020, which will phase out diesel school buses. Woodland Superintendent Asha Riley said the grant comes at the right time to help the district prepare for the change.
“That’s part of why this was a good time to do it. There was enough opportunity to build the infrastructure that’s necessary [for] the long-term needs related,” Riley said.
The grant will cover the district’s contract with Highland Electric Fleets, which will oversee the maintenance of the electric buses throughout their 13-year lifespan. The grant also includes funding for electric vehicle chargers at KWRL’s bus stations in Woodland and La Center.
Not all residents and school board members approve of the transition. At the Dec. 19 board meeting in which the grant was accepted, board member Trish Huddleston raised concerns about local resistance to electric buses and ultimately voted against accepting the grant. Two community members also voiced opposition, citing distrust in the state mandate and expressing concerns over the shift to electric vehicles.
“Our community is not excited, and they don’t want them, and there’s not a mandate yet, and I think we’ll survive if we don’t get electric school buses,” Huddleston said. “OSPI [Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction] is required to fund transportation, so either way, we’re still going to get funded for transportation if we don’t accept this grant.”
Riley highlighted the grant’s financial benefits, explaining that electric buses are $200,000 more expensive than diesel models. The program’s coverage of operational costs is expected to save KWRL approximately $190,000 annually. For Riley, the grant was an opportunity the district couldn’t afford to pass up.
“I sense that there’s a lot of reservations around new technology, and I would say that there are a number of people that are frustrated by mandates from the state’s unfunded mandates, those kinds of situations,” Riley said. “In our approach, that’s why we’re trying to mitigate this shift with the use of the grant because the mandate’s going to happen whether we got the grant or not, right?”
The 14 diesel buses being replaced are near the end of their lifespan and will likely be sold back to manufacturers. Woodland Transportation Director Shannon Barnett told The Reflector that implementation of electric school buses is ahead of schedule, with operations expected to begin by July or August 2025. Six electric buses will be based at KWRL’s Woodland station, while eight will serve the La Center area.