Toms River Schools Awarded $40K Bus Grant From EPA

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional School District has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to replace two of its school buses with ones that meet the newest emission standards.

The $40,000 grant will help offset some of the cost of the buses the district is set to replace in the 2021-22 school budget, Business Administrator William Doering said. It is the fifth straight year the Toms River schools have received a grant. From 2016 through 2019, the Toms River schools have been awarded a total of $645,000, ranging from $100,000 in 2019 to $200,000 in 2018, according to the EPA.

The EPA's School Bus Rebate program, part of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, provides the grants to get older engines that pollute more off the roads.

In New Jersey, school buses are required to be replaced when they reach 15 to 20 years old, depending on the bus. To meet that requirement, the Toms River Regional Schools have a rolling lease-purchase program that replaces groups of buses yearly to spread out the costs, so the district isn't faced with replacing a large percentage of the fleet all at once.

The $40,000 grant will help offset some of the cost of the buses the district is set to replace in the 2021-22 school budget, Business Administrator William Doering said.

Toms River is replacing 12 of its 54-passenger buses in the 2021-22 school budget because they are reaching the maximum age. The district will need to replace 66 buses in the next five years — 61 of the 54-passenger buses and five of the smaller buses.

"This is an environmental and financial win-win," the district said in a tweet, where it thanked the EPA for the grant.

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