subscribesubscriber servicescontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Sun, Jul 05 2009 

Published: July 24, 2008 08:57 pm    print this story  

SCHOOLS: Rising diesel prices putting pinch on bus fleets

By Caitlin Murray
E-mail Caitlin

Niagara Gazette

With no clear end in sight for rising oil prices, school districts are forced to find room in their budgets for ever-expanding transportation costs — which means students could have to walk farther or get more rides from parents.

Transportation budgets are swelling as the price of diesel, the primary fuel for school buses, has shot up as much as 65 percent in the past year, with the U.S. average topping $4.80 per gallon.

The Niagara Falls City School District had initially budgeted about $275,000 for the upcoming school year’s transportation costs, but the school board last month approved more than double that amount due to an increasingly volatile market, said business administrator James Ingrasci.

“We’ve anticipated fuel going up to $5 per gallon, but it’s still going up,” Ingrasci said. “If it goes over $5 per gallon, then we’ve got to go back and look at increasing our budget again.”

If the $575,000 the district budgeted this year — almost double what was spent on fuel two years ago — isn’t enough to transport its thousands of eligible students, the district may have to dip into its contingency funds and look at making some cuts “as far away from the classroom as possible,” Ingrasci said.

The district has already optimized its routes and eliminated unnecessary bus runs, limiting ways the district can reduce its transportation costs, said Carmen Granto, superintendent.

“We’ve got to transport the kids — what are we going to do?” Granto said. “Anything below a mile and half, they walk. That’s far enough. We’re not going to make it 2 miles, that’s crazy. There’s too many city streets and traffic.”

In the Niagara-Wheatfield Central School District, all students are eligible to be transported to school by bus. But students can be required to walk up to two-tenths of a mile to a bus stop — a distance the school board could soon increase, said Terry Eisenman, Niagara-Wheatfield transportation director.

“Our budget has gone from roughly $150,000 to $450,000 in just three to four years — that’s just hard for us to keep up with,” he said. “If the cost goes much higher, we’re going to have to do something. Right now we’re looking to reduce miles where we can.”

Another idea the school board may consider if prices start getting too high is cutting out early bus runs, which are only used by a small portion of students.

“I think we’d be looking at any bus runs that can be consolidated,” said business administrator Kerin Dumphrey. “Certainly, we don’t want to take away the ability of kids to have after-school activities, but to do things as efficiently as possible, I think we have to just focus on after-school activities and not the before-school activities. But we’re not going to change things that are needed.”

The district put about 940,000 miles on its 70 buses this past year, a slight increase over last year, and could save as much as 10 percent on fuel costs if it introduced consolidation plans, Eisenman said.

Don Rappold, interim superintendent for the Lewiston-Porter Central School District, is hoping the district doesn’t find itself in a situation similar to this past year. For 2007-08, the district had budgeted $160,000 for transportation but ended up spending more than $230,000 by the year’s end. For this coming year, the district budgeted $175,000, an amount Rappold acknowledged may not be enough at a budget workshop in March.

Rappold said Wednesday he was “concerned” about the rising fuel prices, but was hopeful they would level off.

“This stuff stabilizes and we’re hoping it stabilizes,” Rappold said. “If not, we’re going to have to find another way to fund it.”

Lew-Port, like Niagara Falls and Niagara-Wheatfield, uses computer routing programs to look for the most efficient bus routes possible, but the savings of tightening existing bus routes may not be enough to handle ballooning costs.

To cover the extra $70,000 in costs over budget this past year, the district shifted around money within the transportation budget, consolidating its special education routes and identifying “things that we didn’t need to spend,” Rappold said.

If the fuel budget is too low again, the district might have to turn to its contingency budget, which is about 2 percent or $80,000, Rappold said.

print this story  



Zillow
monster
autoconx
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Premier Guide

Find a job! Find a Home! Find a car!

Featured Jobs

Packagers
Packagers , General
Production & Assembly. 1st shift. Sanborn area.
Remedy, 298-4933
...>MORE

LPNS
LPNS, Certifid HHA's and Certified PCA/s needed. Several shifts available. Full and part time hours. Must be able to wor...>MORE

COTA



PATIENT SERVICE MANAGER
Full-Time management position responsible for promoting & maintaining the
...>MORE

Housekeeping Aide
Housekeeping Aide. Day shift. Must be able to work a flexible schedule to include some week-ends and holidays. Dependabl...>MORE

Truck Driver
TRUCK DRIVER: Local /OTR 200 mile radius. Must have dump trailer experience. 867-4663...>MORE

Technicians
CIVIL SERVICE EXAMS
Exam Date: 9/12/09
Filing Period:
7/6/09 -7/22/09
EXAM FEE: $20.00
N.F. WA
...>MORE

Lead Carpenter
LEAD Carpenter for Pole barn builder/steel roofing company Exp. req. Call 716-438-7720....>MORE

Occupational Therapist
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST. Full-time day position. NYS license and registration required. Send resume or apply: Employment ...>MORE

Accountant
Accountant
(Manufacturing)


Payroll/benefits reporting, cash receipts, accounts payable, GL mainten
...>MORE

Accounts Payable
Accounts Payable
Must be experienced. Must have excel/keypunch knowledge. Must be a team player. High volume enviro
...>MORE

See all ads

Feature Autos

1950 Plymouth Custom
PLYMOUTH 1950 Custom, 4 dr, good shape, $1,500/BO. 795-0074...>MORE

1990 Chevy 2500
1990 CHEVY 2500 pick up, fresh paint, 160k mi, good runner, 4WD, ext cab, $2500, 716-572-9153...>MORE

Pontiac 2004 Grand Prix GT
PONTIAC 2004 Grand Prix GT 4 door, good cond, $8000, 998-5596...>MORE

1997 Ford Taurus GL
FORD 1997 Taurus GL, good condition, cold A/C, cruise, 1 owner, white. $1995 or BO. 990-6187....>MORE

Olds 2001 Intrigue
Olds 2001 Intrigue, 130k runs great, leather, sun roof clean inside/out. $3000or BO. 628-6295...>MORE

Ford Escape XLT 2001
FORD ESCAPE XLT 2001, remote start, new catalytic converter, 116K, $3800 or best offer. 480-3031...>MORE

Ford 1993 Taurus
FORD 1993 Taurus, just inspected, runs good $900 or best offer,
284-0244
...>MORE

1994 Pontiac Sunbird
PONTIAC 1994 Sunbird conv. V6, EC in & out, red w/blk top, wht int., CD, real sharp. $2850. 523-7102...>MORE

FORD 1999 150
FORD 1999 150 pickup, good cond., tool box, bedliner, standard, $2500 or BO. 523-3653...>MORE

Dodge 1996 Grand Caravan
Niagara Falls
2753 NIAGARA ST.
FRI. SAT.
9AM-4PM
oriental rug, old tools, antique car parts, toys,
...>MORE

See all ads




 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index