School Bus Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Counties Lose Green School Bus Funding From EPA

Three West Virginia counties lost federal funding to purchase electric school buses after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rescinded award funding last month.

Mineral, Monongalia and Harrison counties were on track to purchase zero or low-emission school buses. Citing errors in their identification of rural areas in mountainous regions, the EPA rescinded those awards. Cabell, Clay, Calhoun, Kanawha, Grant and Lewis counties will still receive the funds.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is advocating for more accurate categorization of West Virginia communities. He sent a letter to Peggy Carr, commissioner of the the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Tuesday urging her to consider ruggedness scales that impact travel of students to and from school in NCES’s measurements. The center within the U.S. Department of Education is responsible for collecting and analyzing education data that help determine how federal resources for education activities are allocated. This includes classifying public school districts into four categories: rural, town, suburban and city.

The letter argues current methodology leads to much of Appalachia being miscategorized as “urban.”

“Your current rural measurement relies on mileage in sparsely settled and remote areas, however it does not account for sparsely populated mountain regions, and commuting times for difficult terrain are not adequately reflected,” Manchin wrote.

“11.7 percent of the United States population lives in a rugged area, with 1.4 percent living in a highly rugged area. For comparison, West Virginia has the largest share of residents living in a rugged area, with 80.7 percent of the population living in a rugged area and 15 percent in a highly rugged area. While ruggedness alone cannot dictate rurality, we feel that it is an important consideration when determining what is rural and what is not.”

GreenPower Gets Grant To Build 47 Electric School Buses

GreenPower will get $18.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build 47 electric school buses at its South Charleston plant.

GreenPower Motor Company will receive a federal grant to build electric school buses for nine West Virginia districts.

GreenPower will get $18.5 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build 47 electric school buses at its South Charleston plant.

The award is part of nearly $1 billion in nationwide investment in clean school buses under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

GreenPower recently delivered its first electric buses to four West Virginia counties.

The 47 buses will go to Kanawha, Lewis, Calhoun, Clay, Grant, Harrison, Monongalia, Cabell and Mineral counties.

More funds are available for schools to replace diesel-powered buses. The EPA is accepting applications for its 2023 Clean School Bus Rebate program until Jan. 31.

First Four Electric School Buses Roll Out Of South Charleston Plant

On Wednesday, the company delivered smaller Nano Beast buses to Kanawha, Clay, Cabell and Monongalia counties.

GreenPower delivered its first four school buses to West Virginia school districts on Wednesday.

Fraser Atkinson, CEO of GreenPower, notes that the school bus we’re boarding got 170 miles out of a single charge, exceeding its advertised range of 140 miles.

GreenPower will begin building more of these buses, called the BEAST (Battery Electric Automotive School Transportation), in South Charleston in January.

On Wednesday, the company delivered smaller Nano BEAST buses to Kanawha, Clay, Cabell and Monongalia counties.

Taking a ride, the first thing you notice about the Nano BEAST is how quiet it is. No roaring diesel engine, transmission or exhaust.

The bus is so quiet, company officials say, that the classroom behavior of special needs students has improved because of it.

Instead, the fuel comes from a lithium iron phosphate battery, the same kind now used in Teslas.

The biggest power consumption other than running the bus? The heater.

“The traction motor, the drive motor is number one, of course, and the heaters are number two,” Atkinson said. “The AC draws very little in the summer.”

What about those mountains in West Virginia? Atkinson explains that with the right kind of driver training, the downhill portion of the trip can actually put power back into the battery.

“The other thing is that you use the brakes a whole lot less than a traditional vehicle,” he said. “And with really good drivers it can be literally a third of the usage of brakes compared to the equivalent.”

Right now, the battery is a big-ticket item. A battery pack for the bus can cost $20,000 and last for about 10 years. Atkinson says the cost will come down.

“So if that trend continues, in five years, the batteries will cost a whole lot less,” he said. “Then in 10 years, they’ll be a fraction of what they are now.”

The charging infrastructure has a way to go. Kanawha County took delivery of its first bus Wednesday, but it doesn’t have a charger yet. It’s been ordered, Superintendent Tom Williams says.

The Mega BEAST could solve that. GreenPower will begin manufacturing it in South Charleston and California next year. Its battery will be capable of 300 miles on a single charge. The company calls it the longest range on the market.

With that kind of range, a field trip from say, Wheeling to Charleston might not be that remote.

School Bus Driver, Mechanic Shortage Affecting Student Education

The challenge to recruit and retain public school bus drivers remains at a critical level, and it’s having a ripple effect on student education.

The challenge to recruit and retain public school bus drivers remains at a critical level, and it’s having a ripple effect on student education. Meanwhile, a shortage of bus mechanics is only aggravating the problem.

Randy Yohe spoke with West Virginia School Service Personnel Association Executive Director Joe White about the urgent need to find a solution, including legislative remedies, enacted or dismissed, to fix the problem.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Yohe: We’ve heard for a while now from the West Virginia Department of Education transportation folks that there continues to be a critical need and shortage of school bus drivers. How critical is it?

White: It’s very critical. I’ve just completed a quick text message sent to a few of our leaders. With about five or six counties, we were probably 50 drivers short of making all routes every day, and that was just a handful of counties. It gets worse as you go into all 55 counties with our students paying the price. In some instances, they’re unable to be picked up. The parents either had to take them or they were excused for the day. A lot of our bus drivers are doubling up or tripling up runs, making extra trips or getting as many students on the bus as they possibly can. So that’s what we’re faced with.

Yohe: Does that get you concerned about safety?

White: It does concern me with safety, and I’m sure it concerns them as well. I have to say this, in the state of West Virginia, we have a top-notch transportation department. I’ll put these guys and girls up against any state because they’re very well trained. Still, we always have some concerns about safety – if a bus is crowded or they have to be concerned with the number of trips they’re making and doubling and tripling up. In most of our counties, our drivers can’t even take a day off to go to their doctor’s appointment because they don’t have anybody to replace them.

Yohe: I’ve heard you make the statement that substitute bus drivers are a thing of the past. Why is that?

White: The majority of the reasons why is the pay. Compared to the salaries with our surrounding areas, we’re lower than all of our surrounding states. We’re about 26th in the nation with pay. It’s so much easier now with the way things are that they have their CDL license so that they can get jobs driving KRT buses, they can go drive water trucks, they can drive fuel trucks and they get paid more. There’s a lot of responsibility on drivers. Our drivers have to take training if there’s medication involved for a student. And all of the staff development hours are required over and above the 18 hours required by state code. In some instances, it’s easier just to get a job somewhere else.

Yohe: The recently passed House Bill 2346 lifts the 140 Day maximum limit for bus driver retirees who have returned to work. Does that make a difference? Or will it?

White: It will make a difference. I think the number that was thrown out we had about 141 retirees currently working that the bill would affect.

Yohe: I understand there’s a critical shortage of school bus mechanics and technicians. How severe is that?

White: It is very severe. In most counties where we have this issue our mechanics are driving every day. Think about that our mechanics are having to stop what they’re doing, and drive the buses, because there’s not enough bus operators. Number one, our counties really don’t hire enough mechanics to start with to keep the fleets going. Number two, some of our mechanics drive every day. Because of the shortage, we have maintenance guys that have been drivers that still hold certification. It is an issue. This somehow has to be addressed.

Yohe: That becomes a ripple effect, doesn’t it? If you’ve got mechanics, driving buses and other workers working as mechanics, you’re going to have some shortfalls?

White: Absolutely, you’re absolutely correct. And it’s not just the drivers, it’s not just the mechanics. They can leave – mechanics, technicians, they can go just about anywhere, and get paid more money with the expertise that they have. So it falls down to this, if we want to make education a centerpiece, as they say, then we need to encompass all of it and take care of all of the issues. People are not lined up to work, to get jobs in the school system. They stay away from them, even the teachers, everybody. It’s just there’s a shortage in just about every field.

Yohe: If there’s not something done to get these pay rates to some kind of regional equal compensation, what other effects may this personnel shortage have on West Virginia education?

White: It’s going to have a drastic effect on education in general, and on the state of West Virginia. We have to take care of those that serve in the education industry. It will just be a ripple effect if it’s not addressed and taken care of, and that includes the benefits as well. You’ve got to understand that over the years benefits have slowly eroded away. The pay is not equal to where it should be. There was a bill that was introduced from the House Education Committee that would have drastically raised service personnel salaries and would have put them comparative to surrounding states. Not only do we think that would have brought more people, I think it would have brought folks that have left the system to come back. You’ve got to understand that most of the majority of the service personnel in this state qualify for federal assistance because of the pain. The average service personnel salary right now in the state of West Virginia, according to the department of education, is $31,000 a year. These hard-working folks have to raise and feed their families. Our government has to be serious about this.

Senate Education Committee Addresses Bus Driver Shortage

The Senate Education Committee took up a bill Thursday aimed at addressing the state’s bus driver shortage.

House Bill 2380 would clear the way for retired bus operators to resume working for their local school district without losing their benefits.

In recent years, a shortage of bus operators across the state has left school systems with no other choice than to cancel routes, interrupting students’ education.

The committee approved a functionally identical bill, Senate Bill 56, in the first days of the session, but that bill has languished in the Senate Finance Committee.

Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, identified a fiscal note of $250,000 attached to the Senate Bill as a potential barrier to passage.

“I think the fiscal note is completely misguided. I can’t see an additional dollar of cost of allowing a retired bus driver who comes back and subs as a bus driver, as opposed to paying somebody who’s not retired,” Oliverio said. “That retired bus driver who comes back and drives an extra 10 days maybe over the 140-day limit, he or she incurs no additional pension benefit for that so there should be no liability to the pension.”

Joe White, executive director of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association told the committee that he and his staff were also greatly concerned by the fiscal note.

“I can only tell you what was testified in the other chamber’s finance, and that was that the amount on the fiscal note is what they put when they don’t have an answer,” White said.

Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, and a teacher, said she has seen the impact of the bus driver firsthand.

“We have these students who have missed 19 days of school this school year, that’s 19 instructional days. That’s not including days they may miss because they’re sick or they have a doctor’s appointment or something else,” Grady said. “So that’s 19 days of school just for not having a bus driver and I know if that happens at my school that happens at all kinds of other schools and I think it’s a huge problem. I would really like to get this fiscal note taken care of.”

Grady concluded by saying there would be further discussion with the Senate Finance Committee to resolve the impasse, and the committee reported the bill to the full Senate with a recommendation it do pass.

Bus Operator Shortage Focus Of House Bill

The bill would allow retired bus drivers to come back to work after their 140-day limit on employment. It’s a plan to make up for a statewide shortage of bus drivers after COVID-19 caused many to retire earlier than expected. In December, the state was operating with 300 fewer bus drivers than its normal average of 4,000.

The House of Delegates’ Education Committee passed a bill Monday that would formally announce a bus operator shortage statewide.

It drew comparisons during discussion to a current policy in place for retired teachers. They would submit an affidavit to their county Board of Education that is sent to the state board for final approval.

During a state Board of Education meeting in November, it was reported that a waiver of state Policy 4336, which outlines school bus transportation regulations, had then only led to 16 bus drivers coming out of retirement or transferring their out of state certification. But legislators are hoping this bill’s passage can draw more attention to the shortage.

“There’s an extreme shortage of bus drivers in many of our counties, from kids sitting on multiple buses going to different schools, taking buses back to other schools, to kids having to sit on the floor because there’s no space for them,” said Del. Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, vice chair of the House Education Committee.

The bill has been sent to the House Finance Committee for further review. If passed, it returns to the House floor with a recommendation that it be passed there as well.