County Says No to 4 Plans Designed to Clean the Air : Environment: Three school districts and Moorpark College miss the mark in complying with an employee-trip reduction law.

Three Ventura County school districts and Moorpark College have had their plans for reducing pollution and encouraging alternative means of transportation rejected by county officials.

The proposals were submitted to comply with the county’s trip reduction plan, also known as Rule 210, which aims to reduce pollution by encouraging employees to car-pool, walk, or bicycle to work, or to work at home.

The Air Pollution Control District has turned down plans submitted by the college and the Conejo Valley Unified and Santa Paula Union High districts, as well as two of the six school plans submitted by the Oxnard Union High School District, a pollution district official said.

All businesses with more than 100 employees, including school districts, must submit plans to the county detailing efforts to reduce pollution. Businesses with fewer than 100 employees will be required to submit plans after Jan. 1. Deadlines for submitting the plans vary according to geographic location.

To persuade employees to participate, school districts are offering teachers and other employees rewards such as running shoes, coffee mugs, shower facilities for employees who bicycle to work and time off for car-pooling.

Some districts, including Simi Valley Unified and Fillmore Unified, have received conditional approval for their plans, said county transportation specialist Judy Linhart.

But in other districts, including those whose plans have been rejected, school officials say they are having a hard time complying with the county law.

School officials say their districts are strapped for money and are unable to pay incentives to encourage employees to participate. They are also hampered by schedules that require teachers to be in classrooms every day. In addition, the county’s plan does not give districts credit for already providing mass transit for hundreds of schoolchildren a day, officials say.

Even in Fillmore, which pollution district officials praised for its conditionally approved plan, an official questioned whether the district can afford the incentives offered under the plan and whether they are legal.

“The concept is good--getting people out of their cars and riding or walking--that’s wonderful,” said Fillmore Assistant Supt. Robert L. Kernen. “But the cost to districts is really going to be something.”

Implementing the plan could cost school districts countywide as much as $35,000 a day, some officials estimate.

Employees participating in Fillmore’s trip reduction plan can earn 12 minutes off for every day they car-pool, walk or ride a bike to work, Kernen said. That amounts to up to one hour off a week, or a day off every eight weeks.

Pollution district officials have praised the time-off concept as a good way for schools to comply without spending money.

But Kernen said the incentive could cost the Fillmore district as much as $40,000 a year, depending on the level of employee participation. Much of the money would be spent to provide substitutes for teachers who earn days off.

“We haven’t been able to give employees a pay raise for the last two years, and now we’re talking about spending several thousand dollars to comply with Rule 210,” Kernen said.

Fillmore district officials are also uncertain whether giving the time off to employees as an incentive for participation amounts to a gift of public funds, Kernen said.

A Santa Paula Union High School District official also questioned the legality of providing incentives. The Santa Paula district’s trip reduction plan was not approved by county officials mainly because it did not offer enough incentives, said Tahir Ahad, director of fiscal operations.

“If you’re giving people time off, you’re paying people public funds for not working,” Ahad said.

A trip reduction plan submitted by the Conejo Valley Unified School District has also been rejected, but the district has not yet received information from the county on the plan’s shortcomings, Assistant Supt. Sarah Hart said.

The Conejo Valley district is not offering time off as an incentive, Hart said. “We feel teachers should be in the classroom,” she said.

Officials of Moorpark College and Santa Paula Union High School District, whose plans have been rejected, said they were told by county officials that they lacked incentives that would encourage participation.

If a trip reduction plan is rejected, school districts or companies have 30 days to submit a revised plan. Companies that have received conditional approval must also submit revised plans with minor changes.

Linhart acknowledged that school districts “have a lack of staff to man the programs to begin with, and a lack of funding to offer incentives.” In addition, schools can’t offer teachers a compressed, or four-day, workweek, or the option of working at home, she said.

However, Linhart said schools can offer incentives that do not require spending money from their budgets, such as school cafeteria discounts. Or districts could solicit store discounts from local merchants and offer those as an incentive, she said.

The Ventura Unified, Pleasant Valley Elementary and Ocean View Elementary school districts have not yet had their plans reviewed.

“As public school districts we don’t have the ability to charge fees or raise money as cities or other agencies do,” said Ron Riley, Pleasant Valley’s transportation and maintenance supervisor.

If schools provide incentives, he said, the money “is going to have to come out of the general fund, which ultimately comes out of the classroom.”