LM April2022_hi

Message From the Executive Director Now is the perfect time to consider electric school buses

Dr. Brent Clark

Everydaymatters As a I wrote last month, school administrators have work to do. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning and many students, especially from low-income households, have fallen behind and need extra support. I encourage you to reinforce the message to your staff that everyday matters. This final stretch of classroom learning can make a difference in a child’s life and cannot be wasted. Summer Learning Partnership In a few short months, the 2021–22 school year will end and summer break will begin. To help curb summer learning loss and engage students in reading and math, IASA is again partnering with Renaissance to launch the Summer Learning Partnership. This is the seventh year of the initiative. See page 22 to learn more about how your district can support students over the summer. On themove? Let us know To close, if you are moving districts, retiring or becoming a new superintendent, please let us know by calling the IASA office at 217–753–2213 or emailing mmurphy@iasaedu.org. We want to make sure you continue to receive important updates, support and information from IASA. Next month, IASA plans to officially launch the FY 2023 Membership Drive to renew membership or join IASA. Be on a lookout for an email with more information.

If there ever was a time to consider introducing electric school buses to your fleet, now is it. A combination of federal dollars, high fuel costs, grants, rebate programs and an increase in production has created a tremendous opportunity for school districts. To help school leaders learn more about how to take advantage of this moment, IASA recently recorded a podcast with Haj Young, Associate Manager of the Future Green Energy Consortium, and Tim Farquer, superintendent of Williamsfield CUSD #210. Last April, Future Green expanded its offerings and ways it can save school districts money on energy costs by being a key partner in an initiative to equip school districts with electric school buses that can supply energy back to the grid. The podcast details Future Green’s Vehicle- to-Grid program, funding opportunities, the benefits of deploying electric school buses and more. Like I said before, the time is now. As part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was signed into law in 2021, the EPA was granted $5 billion over five years to encourage the electrification of school bus fleets. The EPA is in the process of beginning to roll out the $1 billion over the next few months. The EPA also released a presentation with additional information.

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LM April 2022