From USAToday
Fuel prices force schools to weigh class, staff cuts
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Fuel and energy costs are rising so quickly for the USA's public school districts that nearly one in seven is considering cutting back to four-day weeks this fall. One in four is considering limits on athletics and other extracurricular activities, and nearly one in three is eliminating teaching jobs.
In the first detailed look at how fuel costs are affecting schools, a survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) finds 99% of superintendents contacted say they're feeling the pinch — and 77% say they're not getting any help from their state.
"No question that schools are being impacted here," says Steven Crawford, executive director of the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administration. "The price of fuel has impacted everybody's budget."
The AASA survey of 546 superintendents, out today, follows an informal poll last month that found fuel and heating costs rising from 10% to 32% over last year.
Other surveys have found that transportation costs are up by as much as 40% in the nation's 14,100 school districts.
The new figures paint a vivid picture, finding that:
• 15% of districts are eliminating bus routes and either eliminating or modifying extracurricular offerings or sports.
• 15% are considering moving to a four-day school week.
• 44% are cutting back on field trips.
• 29% are eliminating or modifying teaching positions.
Crawford, who until this summer was superintendent of Byng, Okla., Public Schools, says two Oklahoma districts are "seriously considering" four-day weeks to trim fuel and heating costs.
Other districts are looking into converting diesel bus fleets to run on natural gas — and a consortium of districts in the western part of the state is considering building its own wind-generated power plant to provide electricity, heating and cooling. They'd sell the surplus electricity for a profit, Crawford says.
"You can reap the benefits for 20 or 25 years or longer," he says.
A 35-year education veteran, Crawford says Oklahoma schools went through similar woes in the 1980s' oil bust and are used to tightening belts. But rising energy prices, he says, could bring a "huge shift," forcing schools to downsize in new ways.
"If it's for a prolonged period of time, it'll change the way we do business."
Who should pay for rising fuel prices? Parents? Taxpayers? The state? The feds? Or should the schools cut back on ?non-essentials? to make up the difference? Share your views below:
Friday, August 1, 2008
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There's a similar, but more local, article in today's BCCT:
Districts looking for ways to keep fuel costs down
By RACHEL CANELLI
Bucks County Courier Times
As another school year approaches, school district officials around the nation and in Bucks County are trying to figure out how to get students to school without overheating transportation budgets due to rising fuel costs.
So administrators are putting the brakes on certain bus routes to catch up with speeding gas prices.
“It's gotten to the point where hard choices have to be made,” said Robin Leeds, spokeswoman for the National School Transportation Association. It's gotten so bad in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District in California that high school students will be headed back to class on bike, foot or in private cars, officials said.
In Bucks, less after-school busing, fuel surcharges on students, more students riding fewer buses and other ways to hold down costs are being contemplated.
Pennridge in Upper Bucks is reducing its late runs for extracurricular activities. Band members will be asked to find their own way to home football games. And high school students who opt out of riding the bus will get priority to secure parking permits, according to Superintendent Robert S. Kish.
“We understand that some of these changes could require an adjustment on the part of students and parents,” Kish said. “But these changes are necessary for the district budget to absorb the additional fuel costs without impacting negatively on programs.”
Many of the fleets, which average 6 to 8 miles per gallon, won't be carrying as many students on field trips or extracurricular activities like music and sports, officials said.
“What we are seeing is school boards taking whatever steps they can ... to avoid more draconian measures like cuts to instructional programs and laying off teachers,” said Mark Egan, director of federal affairs for the National School Boards Association.
In Centennial, although kindergarten through eighth-grade pupils get to put one field trip tied to the curriculum on the district's tab, students will have to pay for additional excursions. That district previously allowed two to three outings, said acting Superintendent Sandy M. Homel.
If they're going to the same place, athletic teams in Pennridge will also be riding together. The Palisades School District started doubling up sports groups in the spring, administrators said.
That district also eliminated the equivalent of two full-time to-and-from bus routes to offset a deficit in its diesel fuel budget, said Meri Hedrick, transportation, food service and warehouse director.
To balance the bus routes, and in an attempt to save $100,000, students may have longer rides and less shoulder space. Pupils also could soon be paying a yet-to-be-determined surcharge for field trip fuel, said Hedrick.
“We will not jeopardize student safety, or violate any laws to make this perceived savings a reality,” Hedrick said.
Neshaminy officials also are thinking about consolidating some public and private school routes. Besides asking drivers of idling buses to shut off their engines, administrators said they also purchased engine efficient buses to get one or two more miles per gallon.
But there are no plans yet to reduce after-school activities, field trips or sporting events without discussing it with the public first, said Superintendent Paul Kadri.
While district spokeswoman Eileen Kelliher said Bristol Township hasn't made any changes in its bus schedule based on fuel costs, Council Rock Superintendent Mark Klein said his district's administrators are still meeting to talk about possibly creating a fuel surcharge for field trips.
Several districts, including Neshaminy and Pennsbury, were able to lock in a gas rate of $4.30 per gallon through the Bucks County Intermediate Unit consortium of schools, officials said.
Pennsbury is assembling a transportation committee to consider and develop cost-saving options throughout the year, said spokeswoman Ann Langtry.
Last year, Romano Bus Service, the contractor for New Hope-Solebury School District, decreased its stops by 10 percent at the district's request, officials said.
Students are riding no more than 45 minutes each way, and pupils are grouped at corners instead of being picked up in front of their houses, said Dave Hansel, director of operations.
Parents and students were very receptive, and administrators said they're looking at continuing similar options for the next school year.
Reuters contributed to this report. Rachel Canelli can be reached at 215-949-4191 or rcanelli@phillyBurbs.com.
If only we had an energy efficient, green building...
Peter, you're talkin' crazy!
From today's Phila. Inquirer. Cyber-coffee, anyone?
Scrimping schools try cyber trips, other tricks
Saving fuel and electricity takes creativity. A few are looking at 4-day weeks. One is after "rogue coffeepots."
By Rita Giordano
Inquirer Staff Writer
Students in Paulsboro will take more gas-saving cyber trips. Teachers in Malvern's Great Valley School District won't plug in their personal coffee makers. And all over the region, youngsters may walk a little farther to the school-bus stop.
Like those in the rest of the country, school districts here are looking for ways to lessen the sting of high fuel and energy costs.
In a survey released last week by the American Association of School Administrators, nearly all 546 superintendents who took part said rising fuel costs were having an impact on their districts.
More than three-quarters said they were getting no extra aid from their states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
To make do, the superintendents said, they are taking such steps as conserving more energy, cutting school trips, combining bus routes, buying fewer supplies, and even reducing staff.
Fifteen percent said they were considering what the MACCRAY School District in Minnesota plans to do this fall: Go to a four-day week to come up with additional money to fuel buses.
Of the 167 districts in the Philadelphia region, none of the 31 that responded to queries from The Inquirer reported similar plans, but some have gone to a four-day summer week to save on energy and help cut commuting costs. Others say they are considering it for next summer.
The Philadelphia School District, which runs 500 buses to transport about 36,000 public, private and charter students during the school year, spent $2.5 million on fuel in 2007-08, up from $1.9 million the year before, spokesman Vincent Thompson said.
Because rising fuel costs are budget busters, many districts are rejiggering bus routes, looking at reducing stops and how long buses may idle. In New Jersey, it was already limited to three minutes when not in traffic.
In Washington Township, where drivers are told to turn off the engines when buses are stopped, four retiring drivers will not be replaced, and their routes will be consolidated, district spokeswoman Jan Giel said.
In a lot of places, students are likely to have to walk a bit farther to their bus stop.
"We're looking at consolidating some stops because every time the bus stops and starts, you use fuel," said Charles Linderman, business-affairs director for the Great Valley School District.
Even though the district buys diesel with Chester County, he said, Great Valley is paying $4.28 a gallon, compared with $2.10 a year ago. Heating fuel costs $4.21 a gallon, up from $1.98.
To cut costs, Linderman said, the district will increase its compliance with an energy-management policy it adopted last year. That will include clamping down on "rogue coffeepots and microwaves" that staff may have for personal use, he said.
Philadelphia will stick to its no-idling policy and continue to try to make energy efficiency improvements, but Thompson said there were no plans to cut back on bus service.
"If you are eligible for a yellow school bus, you're going to get the service," he said.
Thompson said he did not know when the School Reform Commission might consider a proposal to cut the number of TransPasses provided to students who take public transportation to school. Parents and others voiced loud objections at hearings.
Other districts are using various approaches to whittle down bills.
North Penn High School outside Lansdale will pilot a program that turns off every other hallway light.
By September, Delran High School will have master control panels and motion sensors to turn out lights in the hallways when empty.
Delran district spokeswoman Lee-Anne Oros said the high-school foyer and an elementary-school gym would get sensors that reduce lighting on sunny days and increase lighting on cloudy days.
Oxygen sensors being installed in the high school's bathrooms will turn lights on when the facilities are in use and off when they are not, Oros said.
The Pemberton Township School District is taking something of an entrepreneurial approach: It plans to increase the number of students in neighboring districts it transports for a fee, business administrator Pat Austin said.
"It's win-win," she said. "We can do it cheaper than some of the contractors out there." And, she noted, the district expects to take in about $200,000 from transporting the other students.
More often, though, districts are looking to limit bus use. Many are considering fewer school trips this year.
Paulsboro Superintendent Frank Scambia said budget woes had gotten the district to explore "cyber trips" - a virtual visit to an institution, such as a museum, that usually includes a class or program put on by someone at the institution.
The students have enjoyed them, Scambia said, and he expects the district will do even more of them this year
The Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J., has been one of Paulsboro's cyber outings.
"It's very popular," center spokeswoman Dina Schipper said. The museum has offered the video visits for about 10 years, she said, with participants from as far away as Britain.
Given the cost of fuel, they may become more popular still.
If only we could save the district thousands of dollars by not bussing students. Just think if we didn'g have to send a bus to pick up our 500 HS students and send them to Pennsbury High. Or how much we would save by not having to bus students out of district when they chose to go to Notre Dame.
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