Gas hurts school budgets, too

Surging fuel prices are draining pocketbooks at a record rate.

Fox Valley school districts are feeling the pain, too.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the national average price of diesel was $2.85 in April 2007. This week diesel hit $4.14.

The average price of a gallon of diesel in the Chicago area Saturday was $4.366, according to AAA.

In Elgin Area School District U-46, Chief Financial Officer John Prince told the school board last month the district already had spent 71 percent of its operating budget for fuel.

"There's not much doubt we'll have to move money out of our contingency fund to cover the excess cost," Prince said. "But you have to run buses. That's a fact of life."

U-46 budgeted $1.8 million in fuel for the 2007-08 school year, the same amount it allotted in 2006-07.

Now, paying above $4 per gallon of diesel, "we're about $300,000 over where we were last year," Executive Director of Operations Jeff King said. "We expected prices to jump, but not this much."

To conserve costs, the district has asked athletic directors to consolidate bus trips.

"Before, we always left it up to athletic directors to tell us how many buses they needed," King said. "Now, if two teams from the same school are going to the same place, we recommend that they go on the same bus."

Kaneland Unit District 302 buses 90 percent of its students across 140 square miles.

"The biggest hit we've taken this year is the busing," Assistant Superintendent for Business Tom Runty said.

By the end of March, the district spent 82 percent of its $240,000 fuel budget. "We're almost certainly going to go over this year," Runty said.

Like U-46, District 302 will likely divert money from other budgets, Runty said. "By the end of the year, it looks like we'll have used only 75 percent of what we expected to spend on teacher salaries. We'll likely use some of that money to cover the gas costs."

In St. Charles, District 303 Transportation Manager Ken Farley anticipates the district will spend $793,000 in gasoline and diesel costs by the end of the school year. Last year, the district spent $664,000 to run its more than 100 buses.

"We anticipated a jump in prices," Farley said, "But we didn't expect it to hit us as hard as it has these last couple months."

Huntley Unit District 158 budgeted $325,000 this school year, interim Chief Financial Officer Martin McConahay said. "We will go over budget," he said. "The good thing is, the amount that will be over likely won't be exorbitant."

Geneva Unit District 304 will draw on money from its contingency fund to cover its excess fuel spending, Assistant Superintendent for Business Rebecca Allard said. Next year, the district plans to increase its fuel budget by at least 12.5 percent.

Though Carpentersville-based Community Unit District 300 said its fuel spending is on track, the district will spend $100,000 more than it did last year.

Last year, District 300 budgeted $746,000. This year, it set aside $847,000, Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates said.

"That difference is worth, like, three teachers," Crates said.

Only Batavia Unit District 101 isn't feeling the pinch as directly. The district has a three-year contract with First Student Inc. busing company, Associate Superintendent for Operations Steve Caliendo said.

The district pays the company about $2.5 million a year for bus operations, fuel and repairs, Caliendo said.

"In our contract, there is a clause that should fuel go beyond a certain number, we'll renegotiate the fees," he said.

"We aren't there yet, but we're inching up close to that."