MENIFEE, Calif. — The Menifee Union School District has earned a total of $2.6 million in funding to convert its school bus fleet from diesel to cleaner-burning compressed natural gas (CNG).

A recent award of $1.3 million from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC), a state agency, will fund the purchase of 22 CNG buses.

Ron Roberts, vice chair of the MSRC, said that the agency has a program that provides incentives to school bus vendors to buy down the cost of buses, allowing districts to purchase them for less.

The Menifee district was also awarded a grant of $400,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It will use the funding to replace its five remaining diesel buses with CNG buses.

In 2003, the school district gained $975,000 from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to buy six CNG buses.

“Our children breathe healthier air and our bus drivers are grateful to operate quieter vehicles,” said Dan Wood, Menifee’s assistant superintendent of business services. “Compressed natural gas makes for a better situation for all concerned.”