Increasing Gas Prices Could Mean School Budget Cuts
By: Brendaliss Gonzalez
Updated: February 25, 2013
If you think filling up your tank has gotten more expensive, imagine filling up an entire school bus.
"If fuel goes up a dime at the pump then you can assume that it's going up a dime at our pump," said Rodney Murphy, the transportation director for the Abilene Independent School District (AISD).
Now multiply that by the more than 50 buses that have to fill up to transport kids around Abilene schools.
Let's just say it's a cost that bus drivers like Robert Penny are glad they don't have to pay.
"Real thankful," said Penny, a school bus driver for 20 years, "it costs a lot of money to ride these buses."
Gas price hikes aren't anything new to school administrators.
It's something they have to deal with every spring, but once the price hits more than $3.50 a gallon like it has recently, it becomes more of a concern.
"We just know that as the year winds down then you will be out of fuel money," said Murphy.
That means they could have to take more money than what they're provided in their yearly budget, which could come out of other school expenses.
"You can't point and say 'well now this is what it affects'," said Murhpy, "it's just all of a sudden something that they need, that they were not able to get because the money went for fuel."
There are some ways they're trying to save.
"We have a no idling policy," said Murphy.
But it may take more than just that in order to cover transportation costs.
"So it's just like the average family," said Murphy, "if you have to have fuel to do your job then youre going to get the fuel and sacrifice some place else."
Murphy also tells us that during this time school ridership also goes up now that more parents are sending their children to school on the school bus in order to save on fuel themselves.
"If fuel goes up a dime at the pump then you can assume that it's going up a dime at our pump," said Rodney Murphy, the transportation director for the Abilene Independent School District (AISD).
Now multiply that by the more than 50 buses that have to fill up to transport kids around Abilene schools.
Let's just say it's a cost that bus drivers like Robert Penny are glad they don't have to pay.
"Real thankful," said Penny, a school bus driver for 20 years, "it costs a lot of money to ride these buses."
Gas price hikes aren't anything new to school administrators.
It's something they have to deal with every spring, but once the price hits more than $3.50 a gallon like it has recently, it becomes more of a concern.
"We just know that as the year winds down then you will be out of fuel money," said Murphy.
That means they could have to take more money than what they're provided in their yearly budget, which could come out of other school expenses.
"You can't point and say 'well now this is what it affects'," said Murhpy, "it's just all of a sudden something that they need, that they were not able to get because the money went for fuel."
There are some ways they're trying to save.
"We have a no idling policy," said Murphy.
But it may take more than just that in order to cover transportation costs.
"So it's just like the average family," said Murphy, "if you have to have fuel to do your job then youre going to get the fuel and sacrifice some place else."
Murphy also tells us that during this time school ridership also goes up now that more parents are sending their children to school on the school bus in order to save on fuel themselves.
