School Board Backs Diesel Phase-Out

The Los Angeles Board of Education endorsed a proposal Tuesday to phase diesel engines out of school bus fleets, citing recent findings that schoolchildren breathe dirtier air on buses than on streets.

With its vote, the school board overseeing the area’s largest fleet signaled that it will comply willingly if the managers of the region’s air quality approve the rule next month.

“Since it is not going to cost us any more and it is not going to take any resources out of the classroom, we need to go with the cleanest form of technology that we can,” said school board member Valerie Fields, who introduced the motion at Tuesday’s meeting in Sherman Oaks.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will take up the latest in a series of rules to reduce vehicle emissions at its April 20 meeting. Already, the air board has required fleet operators of transit buses, trash trucks, taxis and other vehicles to shift from diesel to natural gas and other alternative fuels when the old ones are replaced.

The proposed rule would require the same of school districts, but only if they can pay for the shift to the more expensive coaches. Buses powered by natural gas generally cost $30,000 more than buses powered by diesel, AQMD officials said.

About $16 million is now available statewide for the purchase of new, lower-emission school buses, said Sam Atwood, spokesman for the AQMD.