The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has created new grant funding for school buses in Greater Minnesota due to the overwhelming response to the 2018 school bus replacement grants.
The grants will help replace older diesel school buses (model years 1992 – 2009) with newer, cleaner models. Grants will be for $15,000 or $20,000 per school bus, depending on whether the school district has 40% of students in the free or reduced lunch program.
This second round of funding is specifically geared towards school bus replacements in Greater Minnesota, to ensure commitment to distribute school bus grants throughout the state at a 60/40 split between the metro area and Greater Minnesota. Projects in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area are not eligible for this grant.
The total available is $580,000, which will fund an estimated 29 bus replacements. Applications are due August 13, 2019 by 4:30 p.m. Central Time.
There will be an information and training meeting, designed to answer questions and explain the application process in more detail, at 1pm on July 30, 2019, at the MPCA St. Paul office, (520 Lafayette, St. Paul MN 55155), in room 100. The meeting will also be available through WebEx.
For more information or to apply, visit https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/greater-minnesota-school-bus-replacement-grants. Contact Rocky Sisk at (651) 757.2173 or rocky.sisk@state.mn.us.
