Schools Grapple With Rising Fuel Costs

Mary Ballou, a bus driver for the Montgomery County public schools in Maryland, fills her vehicle with fuel at a depot in Rockville, Md., before starting her route on July 2.

—Stephanie Kuykendal for Education Week

By Katie Ash

With gas prices soaring nationwide, reaching over $4 for each gallon of diesel fuel, school districts are struggling to supplement transportation budget shortfalls and find ways to offset the increasing cost of fuel as a new school year approaches.

“This is completely unprecedented,” said Michael J. Martin, the executive director of the Albany, N.Y.-based National Association for Pupil Transportation, or NAPT. “I don’t think it was on anyone’s radar screen.”

Now districts are scrambling to squeeze every drop of efficiency out of gas tanks by consolidating bus stops, revisiting routes with optimized software and GPS systems, and implementing...