ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Ritenour School District says they are finally able to access the grant money to be able to pay for new electric school buses.
Previously, the school district was locked out of an account containing $9.45 million from a federal EPA grant beginning on Jan. 29, due to a federal spending freeze.
On Friday, the district announced that they were able to able to access the funds again on Wednesday, Feb. 19, as the account was unsuspended.
"We had remained optimistic that the funds would be released and that we would be able to get to the finish line with our electric bus project," said Ritenour Superintendent Chris Kilbride in a release.
"Although it was frustrating that the funds had been suspended, in the end, we are happy that we will have 24 electric school buses that were promised as part of the EPA grant and that no local funds were used."
The district has been using the money to pay for 24 new electric school buses. The buses would replace the district's aging diesel buses.
Additionally, Ritenour was also sitting on an invoice worth $830,000 from an electrical contractor for installing 24 new electric charging stations. That is also supposed to be paid out of the federal funds account.
Kilbride previously told KMOX that the district have already received three of them, while the remaining 21 buses they were due to receive were sitting in Litchfield, Illinois.