For thousands of school-age kids, the San Luis Obispo County coastline is a premier destination for epic field trips.
The Central Coast State Parks Association plays an important role in that. The nonprofit arm of State Parks routinely offers educational field trip tours at local landmarks like the Oceano Dunes, the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History, the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove, and others.
And its programs don’t just serve SLO County students. Schools from Santa Maria to King City and from Paso Robles to the Central Valley send classes to the coast to experience and learn from the unique environment.
“Some of these kids tell us that if they didn’t have these opportunities, they wouldn’t set foot on a beach,” said Kristin Howland, executive director of the Central Coast State Parks Association. “They get to touch, feel, and learn, which is probably one of the most memorable things, and what really grows an environmental steward.”
But getting out to the coast isn’t easy for everyone. Whether it’s a school in Orcutt or one in Bakersfield, districts need to pay for bus transportation—which is becoming more and more of a challenge since COVID-19.
Between the high cost of gas, a shortage of bus drivers, and other budgetary challenges, fewer schools are sending classes out to the local state parks in the wake of the pandemic.
“We saw a huge drop after COVID,” Howland said. “Unfortunately, we’re not always reaching the audience we want to and who really need it.”
Thankfully, the nonprofit recently received a much-needed boost in funding specifically to subsidize schools’ transportation to state parks. The PG&E Corporation Foundation awarded the group a $100,000 grant as part of its Better Together Nature Positive Innovation program.
Howland said she was pleasantly surprised to see her organization win the grant—as it was one of only five doled out by PG&E across the state. She said it will go toward establishing a new fund to help Title I underserved schools get their classes out to the coast.
“We’re looking at potentially over 100 schools, or field trips, that we’ll be able to serve,” she said.
Underscoring how expensive it is to charter a bus for students, Howland said that she is budgeting each trip at $1,000—with actual travel costs dependent on factors like how far the school is from the park.
“Some of those may have school bus drivers that would make that cheaper. And some charters will be less expensive,” she added.
Howland is expecting the PG&E grant to last through the end of the 2023-24 school year. Will the State Parks Association be able to find another grant to refill it in the future? Howland isn’t counting on it, but she emphasized that the funds are most needed right now.
“It probably won’t happen again, but we feel blessed,” she said. “We were really looking at ways we could increase attendance.”
School districts interested in applying for transportation funding can visit centralcoastparks.org.
Fast facts
• San Luis Obispo County is relocating one of its COVID-19 community testing clinics. Starting Jan. 4, the site will move from the SLO Vets’ Hall to an office at 3450 Broad St., suite 111. Patients who test positive for COVID-19 may access Test to Treat services at the site and take home a course of Paxlovid antiviral medication. The sites also provide rapid testing for influenza. “I’m grateful to our community’s veterans for so graciously sharing their wonderful space for more than two years,” County Health Officer Penny Borenstein said in a statement. “I’m also grateful that demand for testing has decreased to a level where it is possible to meet the need in a different location and return this space to its original use.”
• Local developers and homeowners are eligible to receive up to $5,000 in rebates if they build all-electric units as part of a partnership with Central Coast Community Energy. The rebates apply to affordable housing, farmworker housing, and accessory dwelling units. Visit 3ce.org for more details.
Assistant Editor Peter Johnson wrote this week’s Strokes. Reach him at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 5-15, 2023.