On World Asthma Day, Georgians Advocate for Children’s Health and Clean Electric School Buses

Atlanta, GA – Today, in honor of World Asthma Day, community members, parents, and advocates showed support for continuing federal funding for clean electric school buses, which provide significant health benefits for children, particularly those with asthma. Studies have shown that reducing exposure to diesel exhaust by transitioning to zero-emission electric school buses can reduce asthma attacks, respiratory illnesses, and school absences. Diesel exhaust pollution is harmful for everyone, but is especially bad for kids as their lungs are developing.

Together with the Alliance for Electric School Buses (AESB), representatives from Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), Moms Clean Air Force (MCAF), and the Climate Action Campaign (CAC) met with Senator Jon Ossoff’s staff members to thank them for the Senator’s support of clean school buses for healthy children and communities.

Athens resident Ramsey Nix traveled with her children, Tommy and Catie Jo, to thank the senator for championing the clean energy transition in Georgia. Nix said, “We are grateful for Senator Ossoff’s work, and we came to ask that he continue to fight for the federal funding that has already been promised to school districts for electric buses. They are better for our kids’ health, our state economy and for the climate.”

Dory Larsen, Senior Electric Transportation Program Manager at Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said, “We thank Senator Ossoff for supporting the funding for these buses and urge his colleagues in Congress to keep the Clean School Bus funding in place during the federal budget talks that are happening now. We have the solution to make our kids’ rides healthier. Funding for clean school buses must be protected today.”

Kiya Stanford, Georgia Field Organizer with Moms Clean Air Force, said, “Right here in Georgia, roughly one million children ride the school bus to and from school each day on one of the state’s 15,000 school buses, the vast majority of which are polluting diesel buses. Diesel pollution has been linked to a number of health conditions, including asthma and cancer. The Clean School Bus Program has already awarded Georgia school districts hundreds of zero emission buses – giving our children a safe, clean ride to school. Our children deserve more of this and nothing less.”

Clean Buses in High Demand, But Funding Frozen & At Risk

Since 2022, over 1,200 school districts across the country – including several in Georgia – have benefited from the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program (CSBP), with 75% of awards going to low-income, rural, or Tribal school districts. This funding is critical for school systems to modernize and increase the safety and efficiency of the bus fleet, and applicants have sought nearly $8 billion in funding, with only $3 billion offered so far.  

However the Trump administration halted all CSBP funding, including for projects that school districts had already begun, and Congress may cut these programs permanently. The funding freeze has created a $900 million dollar gap in school district budgets across the country and no means to fill them. Additionally, there is still $2 billion left in the program to be awarded in 2025 and 2026, and the benefits to our kids’ health cannot be denied. Cutting off this funding means more kids will have to ride on older, dirtier buses each day and more school systems will have the burden of maintaining older, inefficient buses past their intended retirement dates. Additionally, cutting funding for clean school buses will harm domestic manufacturing in the Southeast. Blue Bird buses are made in Georgia and Thomas Built buses are built in North Carolina. 

Today, on World Asthma Day, and every day, we envision a world where every child can ride to school on a clean bus that keeps them safe from harmful pollutants. Whether kids are riding to school on country roads or city streets, over mountains or along the coast, they all deserve to arrive at school healthy and ready to learn. 

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About the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Since 1985, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has worked to promote responsible and equitable energy choices to ensure clean, safe and healthy communities throughout the Southeast. Learn more at www.cleanenergy.org.