SALT LAKE CITY — For 27 years, Melanie McMurrin has been driving a school bus in the Salt Lake City School District, but just recently graduated to a new standard of buses — all-electric.
She drives one of the 12 electric buses in the district's fleet of 100 total buses. This mode of transportation is not only better for the environment, but for maintenance costs as well, according to Ken Martinez, the district's transportation supervisor.
The district first unveiled an electric school bus in 2021 after a group of students made a presentation to administrators to apply for federal grants to fund electric buses.
"In our modern society with emissions on the rise, pollution, it's going to have a drastic effect on the quality of life for everyone, not just in Utah or America, but the whole world," said Leif Kious, a sophomore at Highland High School.
Kious said having his peers pioneer the electric bus movement at his school and pushing the district to apply for grants proves that student voices are powerful, and they can be an example.
Sophia Cheng, an 11th-grader at Skyline High in the Granite School District, is part of the school's clean energy club. She and the club are now following the SLCSD student-led push by working with administrators and bringing to the table an incredible opportunity to help fund electric buses within her district.
Through letters, presentations and persistence, the Granite District has applied for federal EPA grants of $1 billion per year, up until 2026, to pay for the implementation of electric buses.
Both the Salt Lake City and Granite school districts say the grants will make it possible to pay for e-buses, which are four times the cost of a regular gas-powered school bus. They note that without the grants, going electric just wouldn't be possible.
