Steelton-Highspire School District is small but mighty, serving just 1,350 kids. It only has two schools, an elementary and a combined junior high and high school.
With limited resources, the district is always looking for ways to increase their impact on the community without breaking their budget. Every penny counts to fund not only daily operations and programming but also bigger projects. A new electric bus fleet of six buses, the first in Pennsylvania, will mean significant cost savings for the district—critical funds that can be reinvested into the school. They are expected to save $15,000 annually in the first decade, eventually scaling up to $200,000 in yearly savings.
The project was funded when the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided a federal grant through the Environmental Protection Agency, providing the district with a $2.3 million rebate. Now, with the new savings, Steelton-Highspire has found creative ways to reallocate funds that would have otherwise gone toward transportation and electricity bills.
As its name suggests, Steelton is home to the first mill in the country that dedicated itself exclusively to the fabrication of steel, and it has since become one of the few remaining rail producers across the Americas. Upgrading this fleet of buses continues the community’s legacy in the energy and transportation economy.
And with the flexibility that the electric fleet of buses affords the district, Superintendent Mick Iskric said he sees new and improved opportunities for outreach and support within the community that didn’t exist with the gas-powered fleet. “We look at ourselves as more than just a school,” he said. “We support an entire community.”
