The Biden administration has awarded nearly $1 billion in new grants to add more than 2,700 electric and low-emissions school buses to the nation’s streets, officials announced Monday.

The buses will be purchased in 280 school districts serving 7 million students across 37 states.

The funding comes from the Environmental Protection Agency’s $5 billion Clean School Bus Program, created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It is the second round of selections bringing the total allocated so far to nearly $2 billion for about 5,000 buses.

Air pollution from older diesel engines is not only harmful to the environment, it has been linked to asthma and other health conditions for children. Diesel engines disproportionately affect communities of color and tribal communities, the White House said.

“Zero-emission school buses can and one day will be the American standard," EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters. "And we’re hitting the accelerator on a cleaner and healthier future for all.”

The grants include: 

• $88 million for 259 buses in California

• $33.2 million for 136 buses in Florida

• $6.9 million for 17 buses in Kentucky

• $20 million for 85 buses in Massachusetts

• $15.8 million for 84 buses in Missouri

• Nearly $69 million for 200 buses in New York state

• $26.7 million for 114 buses in North Carolina

• Funding for 49 buses in Ohio, with the final allocation yet to be determined

• $26.2 million for 164 buses in Texas

• Funding for 30 buses in Wisconsin, with the final allocation yet to be determined

Eighty-six percent of the projects selected to receive funding are in school districts in low-income rural and tribal communities, Regan said.

The EPA announced last April it would make at least $400 million available in this round of funding, but it nearly doubled the amount “given the overwhelming response,” Regan said.

In addition to receiving money to purchase buses and charging infrastructure, the EPA has created a template encouraging early and ongoing communication between school districts and utility companies, whose power grids must charge the new electric buses. The grant winners must submit a utility partnership agreement to the EPA. 

School districts will work with regional EPA officers to finalize their project plans and buy their buses and infrastructure. Ninety-five percent of the new buses will be electric.