Officials gathered Monday to announce Lincoln High School and its surrounding elementary and middle schools will soon see electric school buses, trucks, community event vehicles and bikes in their neighborhoods.
San Diego Unified School District is one of only three districts statewide to receive the program made possible by a $9.6 million California Air Resources Board grant to bring clean transportation to schools located in areas heavily impacted by pollution.
“Every community deserves clean air and this Clean Mobility in Schools Program is one of the most comprehensive electric mobility programs of its kind for a school district,” said San Diego Unified Board President Sharon Whitehurst-Payne. “This program not only benefits our students but the communities these vehicles serve.”
The program serves 14 schools in the Lincoln High School area and includes 13 electric school buses, electric food delivery trucks, electric landscaping and maintenance equipment, an electric van and carpool vehicle, a large electric vehicle for community events, charging stations and battery storage to support the electric buses with clean energy. The electric bikes are part of a pilot program for participating Lincoln students and staff.
The initiative is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment — particularly in communities impacted by poor air quality.
Elementary, middle and high schools in the Lincoln High School cluster suffer from some of the worst air quality in the county as demonstrated by the California’s health screening tool that identifies communities disproportionally burdened by multiple sources of pollution. The cluster serves students in the communities of Barrio Logan, Mountain View, Logan Heights and Lincoln Park.
Project partners working together to implement the program include CALSTART, Center for Sustainable Energy, Circulate San Diego, Cleantech San Diego, Environmental Health Coalition, Nuvve, S Curve Strategies and SDG&E, according to the district.
For more information go to sandiegounified.org/cleanmobility.