BY SARA ANN MASON

What would you say to saving our schools money, reducing students and school staff exposure to a known cause of chronic health conditions, increasing community air quality, and lowering carbon emissions? You might think such wide-ranging benefits require many different policies, but they are all achievable by simply converting our school buses to electric vehicles. And we have the opportunity to make that easier for our schools this legislative session!

House Bill 32, Electric or Alternative Fuel School Buses,” makes electric school buses available and affordable for every New Mexico School District. Senate Bill 49, “Community Benefits Fund Transfers”, provides $60 million in funding for schools who choose to switch to electric buses. These two bills will make it easier for school districts to make this switch without imposing mandates. Please join me in asking your legislators to support these bills!