The Delaware Department of Education hopes to help five school districts fund a total of 14 electric buses and 17 propane buses through the federal Clean School Bus Rebate Program.

The department — which qualifies as a school district because it is a funder, purchaser and title owner of almost 500 school buses — submitted the rebate applications for:

• Brandywine — seven propane.
• Caesar Rodney — two propane.
• Capital — three electric, one propane.
• Colonial — three electric, one propane.
• Red Clay Consolidated — eight electric, six propane.

The rebate initiative incentivizes both electric and propane school bus purchases since both are cleaner than diesel vehicles. Delaware’s fleets already use about 108 propane buses, while the 14 electric buses would be the state’s first.

“We’re grateful for the support of the Delaware Department of Transportation and the Loudoun County School District in Virginia on this project. The expertise and advice of these partners helped us draft a strong proposal that, if successful, will help us continue our transition to a cleaner school bus fleet,” Secretary of Education Mark Holodick said.