School Committee accepts EPA electric-bus grant contingent on three-bus pilot; approves warrant article for bus leases

The Hingham School Committee voted unanimously to: (1) place a warrant article on the town warrant to authorize school bus leases at Town Meeting, and (2) accept an EPA grant for electric buses conditioned on a successful initial pilot.

Administrators briefed the committee on rapidly evolving federal grant information. The district has authority to request lease-authorization language on the town warrant so the School Committee could approve bus leases outside of the annual town meeting if authorized; because of the possibility the warrant could fail, staff drafted two warrant articles: one to authorize the FY26 leases for buses needed this year and another to grant the committee ongoing lease-approval authority going forward.

On the electric-bus grant, administrators said they were initially awarded federal funding for up to 10 electric buses (district earlier referenced a $2,900,000 award) and later received updated guidance. In a motion recorded at the meeting, the committee accepted a grant of $2,935,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the condition that funds be used to enter into leases for additional electric school buses if an initial three-bus pilot is successful. The motion passed on a unanimous roll call vote.

Staff described implementation details the committee asked about: the pilot would equip three buses initially; staff estimated that cameras or monitoring equipment for bus-mounted enforcement (where applicable) would cost about $3,000 per bus; the district is working with vendor Highland Electric and has explored placing funds in escrow with the vendor to reserve buses pending grant certainty. Administrators said vendor and town counsel review is underway and that capital outlay committee approval would be needed for capital items (cameras, charging infrastructure).

Committee members asked about local operations and fleet management. Transportation staff cautioned that operating a large number of electric buses immediately would be challenging: staff recommended piloting three buses to evaluate range, routing, daily mileage, athletic and field-trip use, and charging/maintenance needs before any expansion (staff estimated a realistic upper bound might be 8–10 electric buses over time, not immediately 13). Committee members asked how recipient contribution requirements would be funded; administrators said the district typically finances buses through operating leases and that, with grant funding, the overall operating cost over time can be comparable to diesel leases.

On a separate but related topic, staff updated the committee that Governor Maura Healey signed legislation on Jan. 10 allowing bus-mounted cameras to be used to issue civil fines for vehicles that fail to stop for school buses. The Hingham Traffic Committee intends to propose a warrant article that would authorize — but not require — the town to enforce violations using bus-mounted cameras. If the warrant passes, staff recommended a pilot equipping three buses with cameras (about $3,000 per bus) and said any memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Hingham Police Department and related policy would be reviewed by the policy subcommittee before implementation.

The committee voted to place the bus-lease warrant article on the Town Meeting warrant and approved the grant acceptance motion; both votes were unanimous.

Staff will return with a finalized flow-down agreement and vendor contract language for counsel review and will present pilot findings to the committee before any expansion beyond the pilot.