District halts clean school bus plan after partners raise feasibility and cost concerns

The Beloit School District administration told the Board of Education Tuesday it will discontinue pursuit of a planned electric school bus program that had been discussed earlier in the year.

Superintendent Dr. Garrison said the district had pursued a grant-supported pilot with Highland Electric Fleet and other partners but concluded the initiative would require costly infrastructure changes, new routing arrangements and additional district expenditures. He said the district lacked the funds and property infrastructure needed to add an electric fleet at this time.

Administrators told the board Highland Electric Fleet had asked the district to consider moving away from the agreement because of feasibility concerns, and a named partner — Durham — had earlier withdrawn from the grant partnership several months ago. The administration said it would pause the effort and notify the community that the project would not proceed in the immediate term.

Board members did not take formal action on the item; administrators characterized the decision as an administrative pause driven by cost, infrastructure and partner availability issues.