Friday, August 22, 2008 9:14 PM CDT
Fuel prices hit schools
Districts cut back travel, spend more on transportation
By NATHANIEL WEST, DAVE FOPAY and ROB STROUD, Staff Writers
editorial@jg-tc.com
The wheels on the bus go round and round less and less these days.
Even though fuel prices have tapered off somewhat, the overall increase in diesel and gasoline costs have forced area school districts to expand their transportation budgets and limit bus travel, said officials.
That means fewer or shorter field trips, a reduction in “discretionary” sports outings and, in some cases, bus route cuts.
“What other choice do we have?” said Bob Verdun, superintendent of the Shelbyville school district, which eliminated one daily bus route in an effort to save $6,000 per year in costs.
“It isn’t like we can raise the price of our product.”
School bus drivers in Charleston are trying to increase fuel efficiency with such practices as reducing the times buses idle outside schools waiting for students, said Rick Kelly, manager with the First Student bus company that the school district employs.
He said there have been some adjustments in the routes drivers use, but those mostly took place in previous years.
“The routes are pretty much the same,” Kelly said. New to his job, he said he might look at possible changes once he becomes more familiar with the area.
Kelly said he didn’t want to disclose any figures for the company’s fuel costs.
The fee the Charleston school district pays the company is set in its contract and there’s no “escalator” for any increase in fuel costs, said David Kuetemeyer, the district’s financial consultant. The district’s cost with the contract have increased 2.5 percent each year for the last few years, he said.
The district’s contract with First Student includes transportation for special education students who attend programs outside Charleston, as well as for sports and other extracurricular activities and class field trips, Kuetemeyer said.
The district’s budget for the current school year includes just more than $1.9 million for transportation. About $1.1 million is for regular routes, while nearly $590,000 is for special education transportation and $220,000 is for the other activities.
Last year, the Mattoon school district went overbudget with fuel costs, spending $327,558 and $184,592 on diesel and gasoline, respectively. Administrators are projecting an increase of about 6 percent for both types of fuel this year.
“We’ve asked all of our staff to take a second look at field trips and special events — can they get the same educational value by not going as far as they have in previous years?” said Tom Sherman, Mattoon assistant superintendent of business.
Bus routes remain the same in Mattoon, as do sports schedules. However, Superintendent Larry Lilly noted that one of the reasons the school district sought to change athletic conferences two years ago related to transportation costs.
“We go as far as Bloomington, Danville, an hour-and-a-half away,” Lilly said.
The Apollo Conference rejected Mattoon’s bid to join, and Lilly said there are “no immediate plans” to re-apply. “But anything’s possible,” he added.
In Neoga, Superintendent Chuck Castle said the proposed budget for fuel has “about doubled” this year. The school board will vote on a new budget next month.
“It’s just one of those costs; it affects every consumer,” Castle said.
Oakland Superintendent Michael Smith said his school district saw its gasoline bill for transportation — excluding regular school day busing —increase from approximately $23,000 to $40,000 during 2007-08. This bill covers driver education, extracurricular activities, field trips, and teacher workshops.
“This is money you can’t spend on kids in other ways,” Smith said. “It is taking a larger and larger piece of the pie to spend. That decreases the available funds to spend on education.”
Smith said the district is looking closely at this portion of its budget in 2008-09 so that it can cut back on costs wherever possible. Still, he said the district will be mindful of the importance of student-related transportation.
“We want to offer the students all the opportunities they need and deserve,” Smith said. He added the district did not increase its driver education fee this year.
The superintendent said its fuel expenses for regular school day busing are already locked in for 2008-09 through the final year of a three-year contract with Goulds transportation company of Tuscola.
Shelbyville administrators also told coaches that they had to use some of their own sports’ budgets to pay for part of “discretionary” trips over the summer to weekend tournaments and the like.
To complicate matters even more, the Shelbyville school district covers a wide swath of geography — including rural areas where several township bridges cannot support the weight of school buses, which consequently must travel three or four miles out of their way.
Verdun said. “We just simply have to adjust and live with it.”
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860. Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733. Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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cd wrote on Aug 23, 2008 11:48 AM:
What other choice do we have? said Bob Verdun, superintendent of the Shelbyville school district, which eliminated one daily bus route in an effort to save $6,000 per year in costs.
It isnt like we can raise the price of our product.
School bus drivers in Charleston are trying to increase fuel efficiency with such practices as reducing the times buses idle outside schools waiting for students, said Rick Kelly, manager with the First Student bus company that the school district employs.
He said there have been some adjustments in the routes drivers use, but those mostly took place in previous years.
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Fill the blasted buses up!!! Many times I see large buses that had so few students that a mini-van could have been used instead.
How about making ALL students ride the bus, with the following exemptions:
1> H.S. Students that have verified (re-verified throughout the school year) employment after school.
2> H.S. Students that participating in Extra-curricular activities that require the student to remain after school to practice. >
If the High School wants to be greener, how about locking the student parking lots while school is in session. The students can walk if they don't want to eat at the school during lunch. It is said that the young are overweight; this will provide exercise for them.
Think of the carbon that is expelled along Lincoln Ave., and the rookie drivers that zip back and forth there as well. Some of these students (Male and Female) drive like they are at INDY. Some on Cell phones. "