Clean School Bus (CSB) Grant Program

This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to incentivize and accelerate the replacement of existing school buses with clean and ZE school buses.

The CSB program aims to:

1. Improve air quality by replacing highly polluting buses while accelerating the transformation to low and zero emission alternatives;
2. Engage stakeholders in program development,
3. Evolve the program, as needed, based on successes and lessons learned,
4. Promote cost parity between bus technologies,
5. Allow school districts multiple funding opportunities to apply for funding,
6. Maximize the number of zero-emission and clean buses that get funded, and
7. Ensure a broad geographic distribution of awards

In order to meet the unique needs of diverse recipients and address gaps identified in the 2022 CSB rebate program, the CSB grant program has designed two separate sub-programs under this NOFO:

1. School District Sub-program: for school district and Tribal applicants, targeting large single-fleet turnovers that may have been limited by the 25-bus maximum in the rebate program, and
2. Third-Party Sub-program: for third-party applicants to apply in partnership with school districts, particularly small, rural, Tribal, or low-income beneficiaries that may benefit from third-party technical support, grant administration and coordination (e.g., with utilities). ThirdParty Sub-program applicants must serve at least four school district beneficiaries to be eligible for funding under this program. The sub-programs in the 2023 CSB grant program address several programmatic goals discussed throughout this section, along with other criteria listed throughout this NOFO.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allows EPA to prioritize certain communities that will benefit from the CSB program. The CSB program statute enables the program to target communities with environmental justice concerns, that is, communities adversely and disproportionately affected by environmental, climate change, and human health harms or risks, and support a broad geographic distribution of funds. Additionally, CSB has been identified as part of the Justice40 Initiative, which provides a goal that 40 percent of applicable federal benefits flow to disadvantaged communities. For the purposes of this funding opportunity “disadvantaged communities” must meet one or more of the following prioritization criteria:

1. High-need school districts and low-income areas, limited to:
• a. School districts listed in the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) School District Estimates for 2021 as having 20% or more students living in poverty.
• b. Title 1-funded school districts and charter school districts not listed in the SAIPE dataset. See the Prioritization Self-Certification Instructions, which can be found on the CSB Grants webpage, for more information on this option.
• c. Title I-funded large public-school districts, defined as districts with more than 35,000 students and/or 45 public schools, that are in SAIPE but do not meet the 20% poverty threshold, may be eligible to self-certify the low-income prioritization status for part or all of their district. See the Prioritization SelfCertification Instructions, which can be found on the CSB Grants webpage, for more information on this option.
  
• d. School districts located in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
2. Rural school districts, limited to school districts identified with locale code “43- Rural: Remote” by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
3. Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded school districts
4. School districts that receive basic support payments under section 7703(b)(1) of title 20 for children who reside on Indian land.

For information about project requirements, see: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/2023-csb-grant-nofo-4-20-23.pdf#page=16

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Eligibility Criteria" for clarification)

Estimated Total Program Funding: