Millions of California Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on Electric Bus Grants for Schools

CUSDWatch Alert - Millions of California Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on Electric Bus Grants for Schools - March 22, 2017 CUSD Board Meeting Agenda Item #20
On February 7, 2017 Superintendent Vital executed a Grant Application to Purchase 5 Electric School Buses.
No Matching Funds are Required - This is totally funded with California Taxpayer dollars.
The busses must be purchased from ELion (a Canadian Company) The only approved vendor for this grant money.

Each Bus Costs: $372,193.32 (100% California Taxpayer dollars)
$242,193.32 will be paid by Grant Funds
$130,000.00 will be paid for with HVIP funds
Receipt of the Grant is dependent on CUSD building a EV Charging Station

The costs to build the Charging Stations cam in at:

• ChargedEV.com $184,451.00
• Auto Charging Experts $188,046.00
• evConnect $165,019.50

CUSD is applying for $100,000 Electric Charging Station Infrastructure Grant ($20,000 per bus)
The balance < $100,000.00 will come from CUSD
California Taxpayers are fully funding these expensive busses. CUSD is cutting its bus routes. Parents have to pay for the few bus routes that are remaining.This is a shameful scam on California Taxpayers. Multiply this by thousands of school districts that are being forced to lay off teachers to balance their budget and this is truly a disgrace.
CUSD Current Bus Inventory:

Diesel Buses: 92 total

• Pre 1994: 34
• 1994 and later: 58

CNG/Propane buses: 24

CUSD built an $800,000.00 Natural gas fueling station last year which is probably a similar program to this.

Under "Local Control", the State is suppose to give districts money that is NOT earmarked for a specific purpose. Rather than increase the Base Grant the State is now giving millions in one time grants that must be spent on particular things:

Teacher Effectiveness Grant - Professional Development (Pay to Play)

Technology Grants - Technology for Common Core Implementation (Pay to Play)

Energy Grants - Millions to Schnider Electric to do energy audits (Pay to Play)

and now Electric Bus Grants.

All of this waste of money while our facilities need $889 million in repairs, we have 8,555 students over capacity, our class sizes are the highest in California and the nation, parents have to fundraise for core educational programs like Art, Music and Science, they have to pay fees for parking and ASB positions.

Does this really make financial sense for California students?

This is why California Education is in the bottom in the Nation.

California is not educating students.

California uses our Public Education System to raise tax revenues to spend on new programs and entitlements that are not Constitutionally mandated.

This Grant is nothing more than the use of taxpayer money to promote a political agenda of California's radical left CARB Board.