SUPPORTING A HEALTHIER SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

WHEREAS, over 21.3 million students ride more than 484,000 yellow school buses each day and travel over 3.1 billion miles each year to and from school;¹  and

WHEREAS, burning one gallon of diesel fuel produces approximately 22.4 pounds of carbon dioxide;²  and

WHEREAS, a single diesel bus driven 15,000 miles a year for 15 years will produce 886,000 pounds of greenhouse gases;³  and

WHEREAS, tailpipe emissions from diesel buses include not only carbon dioxide but also other dangerous compounds including carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons;⁴  and

WHEREAS, with their small size and high surface area, particles generated by diesel vehicles can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract and deposit adsorbed chemical compounds in the lungs of students and staff; and

WHEREAS, diesel school buses are a significant source of children’s daily particulate exposures with onboard particulate levels as much as 2-10 times larger than ambient concentrations;⁵  and

WHEREAS, electric school buses produce zero tailpipe emissions; and

WHEREAS, students and our members would see material health benefits from an all-electric bus fleet; and

WHEREAS, even though the upfront cost of ownership is cited as a barrier to electrifying school bus fleets by public school districts, the lifetime ownership cost of an electric school bus is lower than the lifetime ownership cost of comparable diesel buses;⁶  and

WHEREAS, the privatization of school transportation systems negatively impacts not only AFT members who operate buses but also members who service and maintain them; and

WHEREAS, drivers who are employed by third-party operators are typically not permitted to communicate directly with principals or other school leaders regarding behavioral issues on the bus, safety and equipment issues, or maintenance concerns, and are generally not provided a school email address with which to receive general announcements from the district; and

WHEREAS, student and community interests are served best when transportation and maintenance systems remain accountable to the public, focused on people over profits and managed by the district directly; and

WHEREAS, the Biden administration has prioritized American manufacturing and union labor in the administration’s effort to convert diesel buses to cleaner alternatives; and

WHEREAS, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program has provided $5 billion in grants over five years to assist school districts in the transition from fossil fuel buses to clean alternatives:

RESOLVED, that the AFT will support the transition from fossil fuel bus fleets to electric or alternative cleaner fuels; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will fight to oppose any subcontracting, third-party, privatization or for-profit schemes that harm students or AFT members, or that weaken the public’s control of the school transportation system, as districts transition their fleets from fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will provide locals and state federations with guidance and assistance as they navigate school bus electrification in their districts.

Adopted May 28, 2025

^{[1] “School Transportation 2022-2023,” School Bus Fleet 2024 Fact Book, vol. 69, no. 10, pp. 10-11.}

^{[2] Environmental Protection Agency, “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle,” https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle#burning.}

^{[3] U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuel Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Transportation Tool, https://afleet.es.anl.gov/afleet/.}

^{[4] “Partial List of Chemicals Associated with Diesel Exhaust,” OSHA website: https://www.osha.gov/diesel-exhaust/chemical.}

^{[5] Sara D. Adar et al., “Predicting Airborne Particle Levels Aboard Washington State School Buses,” Atmospheric Environment, vol. 42, issue 33, October (2008).}

^{[6] “All About Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for Electric School Buses,” Electric School Bus Initiative, May 17, 2023, https://electricschoolbusinitiative.org/all-about-total-cost-ownership-tco-electric-school-buses}