The electric school bus cost $446K. Districts will need them. Local voters said no.

A down-ballot result in Churchville-Chili in Tuesday's school district elections captured the attention of other school districts in Monroe County and beyond, as voters rejected spending $446,000 on an electric school bus of the sort that soon will be mandatory across the state.

Churchville-Chili residents voted 591 to 420 against the purchase. On the same ballot, they overwhelmingly supported the purchase of eight gasoline-powered buses for a total cost of $1,456,000.

New York state recently adopted a law banning the purchase of gasoline-powered school buses starting in 2027 and requiring an all-electric fleet by 2035. Lobbyists for the transportation industry opposed the law, calling it too hasty.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in November announced $100 million available through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to help school bus fleet operators purchase zero-emission vehicles. The Empire Center For Public Policy, meanwhile, estimates the shift to an all-electric school bus fleet could cost between $8 billion and $15.3 billion.

"If voters don’t vote for zero-emissions busing, districts have to figure out how they’re going to come up with those funds … for that state mandate," Monroe County School Boards Association Executive Director Amy Thomas said. "That’s an interesting result that we all have to take very seriously, because every district is ultimately going to be in that position."

Residents in Baldwinsville, Onondaga County, and Mexico, Oswego County, also turned down electric school bus purchases on Tuesday.

— Includes reporting by Nancy Cutler and Diana Dombrowski.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Churchville-Chili votes down electric bus purchases, despite mandate