{"id":9055,"date":"2026-08-27T09:07:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9055"},"modified":"2026-08-27T09:07:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T09:07:31","slug":"school-districts-face-a-back-to-school-math-problem-the-high-price-of-diesel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9055","title":{"rendered":"School districts face a back-to-school math problem: The high price of diesel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/div>

As the new school year kicks off, school districts are facing a challenging math problem: the high cost of diesel.<\/p>

Read more FDA approves landmark pancreatic cancer drug that\u2019s shown to improve survival<\/a><\/p>

The price of a gallon of diesel is up nearly $2 compared with this time last year. That is meaningful for schools, considering that around 90% of the United States’ 480,000 school buses run on diesel.<\/p>

Nationally, the average price was $5.62 for a gallon as of Wednesday, according to AAA. This time last year, it cost $3.70.<\/p>

School districts nationwide have been wrestling with the issue since spring, when the war with Iran started and fuel prices rose. A May survey produced by organizations that represent school superintendents and bus companies found that more than half the districts surveyed said diesel prices were already pushing them over budget.<\/p>\n

In Washington state, Jacob Kuper, the Yakima School District’s assistant superintendent of finance and operations, estimated that in the 2026-2027 school year, the higher cost of diesel could cost his district 38% more \u2014 or $130,000. “The equivalent of one teacher,” he said.<\/p>

So he looked for ways to reduce the district’s diesel use. And he found a few: The district consolidated bus routes. It staggered bell times, reduced the number of total trips and put more kids on the same bus. “So then you save on the actual number of drivers you need,” he said.<\/p>

Kuper said that with those efforts, they’re on track to save more money \u2014 about $400,000 to $500,000.<\/p>

But as kids head back to school for the fall, those changes could still pose some problems. “You have fewer drivers with longer routes or longer total hours per day,” he said. That means more difficult days for drivers.<\/p>

Still, Kuper considers the Yakima School District lucky. “We’re fortunate we have a small geographical footprint,” he said, compared with more rural districts. Yakima’s routes aren’t much longer, he said, so kids don’t have to spend much more time waiting on a bus.<\/p>

The May survey found that 40% of school districts were also consolidating their bus routes. About 20% reported they were limiting non-required trips, like field trips. Others said they were considering switching their yellow buses to non-diesel vehicles.<\/p>

Read more Why Meta\u2019s settlement could be an \u2018inflection point\u2019 for reining in Big Tech<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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Education <\/h3>\n

When is suspending students discrimination? Education Department renews an old fight<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Now, as schools reopen, districts will have to look for other ways to cut expenses, said Elleka Yost, director of advocacy and research at the Association of School Business Officials International, one of the organizations that conducted that survey. “Many districts are tapping reserves or rainy-day funds as a temporary solution,” she wrote by email to NPR. But, she added, this may weaken districts’ ability to respond to future financial challenges.<\/p>

In Boise, Idaho, the school district has also looked for ways to reduce the number of stops per route. “Every stop adds mileage and cost,” said Lanette Daw, the district’s transportation supervisor. The district also added eight electric buses to its fleetthis week, funded by a federal Clean School Bus Program award, as the district explores whether this could help save on fuel costs long term.<\/p>

Still, the district’s transportation costs are higher this year: an increase of about $600,000.<\/p>

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\"The<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
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Middle East conflict <\/h3>\n

Oil companies report sky-high profits thanks to wartime crude prices<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

In Monterey, Calif., Tom Thorpe, the school district’s transportation director, said he is watching prices “carefully, conservatively.” And he’s not just watching diesel: Monterey has transitioned most of its 50 or so school buses from diesel to gasoline. But state and local taxes make gas prices in Monterey higher than the national average. On Wednesday, the average price of gas in that city was $5.77 per gallon, while the national average was around $4.10, according to AAA. That makes gas in Monterey potentially more expensive than diesel elsewhere.<\/p>

Thorpe saw this problem coming. By the end of the last school year, “I \u200aknew I wouldn’t have enough money,” Thorpe said. The district tried to make its routes as efficient as possible, but he said, “Buses get full. Ridership time is a concern.”<\/p>

So he talked to his boss. “\u200aI actually had to go back twice and say, ‘I didn’t project enough, boss. Can we get a little bit more?'”<\/p>\n

But, he quipped, “my boss is a nice man.” He got the money he needed, he said, and “we squeaked through the rest of that quarter.”<\/p>

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Only on NPR <\/h3>\n

The Iran war has pushed some countries away from oil and toward clean energy<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Going forward, Monterey \u2014 as well as other school districts \u2014 will continue combing through their budgets, searching for things they can do without and put toward fuel use instead.<\/p>

In Washington, Kuper will keep wrestling with his district’s fuel costs. He said his job is to keep the buses rolling, to keep the district on budget “and \u200akeep the reductions outside the classroom, if possible.”<\/p>

Read more The pillage that fueled America\u2019s tech booms<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the war in Iran driving up fuel prices, diesel is now nearly $5.60 a gallon, affecting school districts at the start of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[1773,1770,1771,295,1772],"class_list":["post-9055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-back-to-school","tag-diesel","tag-fuel","tag-gasoline-prices","tag-school-bus"],"yoast_head":"\nSchool districts face a back-to-school math problem: The high price of diesel - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=9055\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School districts face a back-to-school math problem: The high price of diesel - 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