Baldwinsville superintendent hopes state leaders ‘slow things down’ after voters reject purchase of district’s first electric school bus

BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Baldwinsville’s superintendent says his district would have been ready for its first electric bus.

“It would have been an opportunity for us to train our mechanics, train our drivers,” said Superintendent Joseph DeBarbieri in his first television interview. “It’s different driving those types of vehicles. It would have been a teaching opportunity for us.”

But a quicker lesson happened Tuesday at the polls, where voters overwhelmingly rejected the district’s proposal to buy the environmentally-friendly vehicle.

The district’s proposed budget for the next school year and the purchase of 14 diesel-fueled busses easily passed. But the third proposition, the allocation of up to $575,000 to buy a zero-emission vehicle, wasn’t even close.

67 percent of voters said no. Superintendent DeBarbieri wasn’t surprised.

“We respect the fact it didn’t go through,” he said. “That gives us great data that we can share with our legislators, our governmental officials.”

The district included the e-bus purchase as a separate proposition as a strategic test that could gauge the community’s interest in funding green transportation in the future.

That future isn’t far off. New York State is requiring districts buy only zero-emission vehicles in 2027. By 2034, school districts’ entire fleets to be converted to electric or other environmentally-friendly fueled vehicles.

After submitting their ballots, Baldwinsville voters were asked by the district to fill out exit surveys so administrators had key insight into the ultimate rejection.

So far, the expense and unknown feasibility have shown up as voters’ biggest concerns. Electric buses cost triple what the gasoline or diesel-fueled equivalent does, on top of the electrical utility upgrades, cost of power and reliability of batteries in Central New York winters across very vast districts.

“I’m hopeful that our legislature and government officials will do the right thing and slow things down,” said DeBarbieri.

Voters in Ithaca, Newfield and Mexico rejected similar proposals that give districts options to buy electric buses.

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