Texas District Awarded $1M Grant for Propane School Buses

SAN ANTONIO — A local school district has received a $1 million grant to replace more than a dozen of its diesel school buses with propane buses.

San Antonio Independent School District (ISD) will benefit from the grant, which was awarded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The district plans to replace 19 diesel school buses with the funds, according to a news release from San Antonio ISD.

The grant announcement was made on May 9 during a luncheon for leaders in the propane industry, including members of the Advisory Committee for the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC).

This is the second grant award the district has received this school year from TCEQ, bringing its award total to $1.3 million.

“SAISD is so excited to receive a second grant award from TCEQ,” said Nathan Graf, senior executive director of transportation and vehicle maintenance for the district.

“These grant awards will help us continue to play our part in improving air quality for our students and the San Antonio community, and our move to propane school buses is economically sound,” Graf said. “We are humbled that PERC is recognizing SAISD for innovative leadership in providing clean energy for our students.”

Last fall, TCEQ and the EPA both provided grant funding to SAISD, enabling the district to purchase its first propane buses. With those initial grants, some district funds, and the new grant, the total number of propane buses will now come to 43. By the end of this school year, 27% of SAISD’s route bus fleet will be propane.

The goal of SAISD’s propane bus program, known as “Clean, Green, Yellow School Bus Machines,” is to continue to replace diesel school buses with propane and educate students on the benefits of propane with creative and fun signage inside each propane school bus, according to the district.