The Pajaro Valley Unified School District is going to replace 12 of its 55 large 78-passenger school buses. Five were replaced last year and another dozen have been retrofitted with cleaner engines, which leaves 22 left to bring the fleet up to state and federal emissions and safety standards.

With its fleet of 100 buses, the district transports about 5,000 children daily with most being bussed in the Aptos, Freedom and Corralitos areas.

The 12 buses being replaced were purchased between 1978 and 1983 with hopes for another grant in 2010 to replace more of these older buses. Because of the $130,000 cost for each of the new buses, the district couldn’t afford to buy them without the help of a $1.6 million grant that comes from Proposition 1B, a 2006 voter-approved $20 million bond measure for transportation projects. The grant comes from the California Air Resources Board and is administered through the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District.

The district has tried many ways to keep their older fleet of buses on the road. Routes were changed to increase efficiency to lower operating costs and a disastrous program that attempted to charge a student transportation fee failed.

Emissions from the these pre-1993 buses are 20 to 30 times worse in terms of health and cancer risks than modern buses. The older two-stroke engines put out about 25 times more visible soot (particulates) pollution than modern four-stroke diesels.

The new buses run on cleaner, low-sulfur diesel fuel and with the use of filters, reduce emissions by 85 percent to meet state requirements. The new buses will also meet state safety standards with seat belts and shoulder harnesses for students, which has been a requirement for all school buses purchased since 2005. However, this will reduce the per bus carrying capacity from the current 78 to 62.

WATSONVILLE — in a desperate move to put together $5.8 million in budget cuts, the Pajaro Valley school board concentrated on gutting the adult school funding with a $650,000 hit, a quarter of the Watsonville Aptos Adult Education’s budget, which continued its raid following more than $1 million district and state reductions within the last year. This means, according to adult school director Nancy Bilicich, staff reductions, less educational opportunities and even fee increases.

As part of its budget reduction plan, the school board also voted to increase class sizes in all grades not including kindergarten and third for which class sizes were already raised from 20 to 30 students this year. The board also approved offering incentives to higher paid managers and teachers to retire in addition to cutting business department funding.

Employees agreeing to unspecified concessions according to Superintendent Dorma Baker could restore some cuts for the 2010-11 school year. However, with the state still trying to fill a $20 billion budget gap by January 8, it is expected that further state reductions in the education budget are coming. Thanks to the settlement of a lawsuit and a federal funding package, the cuts are less than the $11 million the district originally thought necessary

Adult education funding traditionally couldn’t be touched until last year when state legislators allowed access to previously restricted funding that was set aside for Tier 3 programs that are now part of the district’s discretionary budget.

Around the state, according to Steve Prantalos, executive director of the California Council for Adult Education The shock is being felt as several smaller districts have closed their adult schools.

The GED alternative to a high school diploma, ESL (English as a Second Language) programs, career tech training and other academic, vocational and enrichment courses may not be available next year.

Due to cuts already in effect at Watsonville/Aptos Adult Education, enrollment has dropped from 5,100 students in the 2008 fall semester to 3,000 in just one year.

WATSONVILLE — Libby Wilson who was elected to represent Aptos on the seven-member board of trustees in 2006 was chosen unanimously as president by her fellow trustees and will have the responsibility to lead the Pajaro Valley school board into another year of budget cuts.

Wilson follows as president trustees Kim Turley and Leslie DeRose who along with Wilson ran as a three-member slate elected in 2006 that altered the board’s direction.

The surprise was Karen Osmundson who was elected vice president and who often finds herself on the 5-2 losing side of with Sandra Nichols. Osmundson has previously not been elected to leadership positions even though she is in her second term and has served on the board since 2004. Seconding Osmundson’s nomination by Nichols was Trustee Doug Keegan. Just two trustees, Turley and DeRose, voted against Osmundson.

The board president and vice president are automatically on the committee that sets meeting agendas and are in control of the board’s meetings.

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