As nation trends toward electric vehicles, Georgia school bus maker Blue Bird makes the shift

Picture kids heading off to school. An early morning group toting backpacks, sports gear and lunchboxes waits by the side of the road as the big yellow school bus pulls up with a roar.

But in school districts around the country, the sound of the bus is increasingly the artificial hum of an electric vehicle. That shift is getting a boost from the federal government, which is spending billions of dollars to help districts buy electric buses. 

Many of these new, quieter, cleaner school buses are built in Georgia by the 95-year-old Macon-based Blue Bird Corporation.