High fuel prices affecting school’s transportation, food services

USD 443's fuel budget will increase next school year, and school meal prices will also rise for students and staff.
    The fuel budget will be $82,000 higher in order to cope with rising costs, but the district is not making any adjustments to its bus routes.
    William Hammond, assistant superintendent for business and finance, said the district's gas and diesel costs were $152,494 last year and will be $279,950 this year. The district's fuel expenses are mainly for diesel fuel for buses. Currently, the district is buying diesel from different energy companies for an average price of $3.90 per gallon.
    Hammond said students ride the bus to school if they live at least two and a half miles away. Generally, elementary school students require more transportation than high school students, who usually drive their own cars. However, he said, students in the special education program may receive transportation even if they live within the 2 1/2-mile radius.
    “We also take into account the kind of route a student must take to come to school," Hammond said. "For example, if a student must cross railroad tracks or a very busy street, we provide the necessary transportation, no matter how long the student needs to be picked up, because student safety is a special concern to the district."
    He said the state requires districts to apply a density factor formula, which measures the number of students per square mile, to control fuel expenses.
    “But in the middle of the last school year, the state changed that parameter due to rising fuel costs. That means the way districts are reimbursed is going to change,” Hammond said.
    District employees who use their own vehicles for work are covered in two ways. If they need to take business trips out town, they are provided with district vehicles, but if they use their own vehicles for short trips in town, they are reimbursed per mile. Their reimbursement rate will be 50.5 cents per mile this year, up from 47 cents last year.
    “This school year, we will keep monitoring other districts to know how they are coping with the high fuel prices, and then we are going to evaluate and adjust our operations,” Hammond said.

Food costs
    School food expenses rose from $1.43 million in the 2006-2007 school year to $1.57 million last year — a difference of $132,270. District statistics indicate that food costs have increased in the last three years and doubled last year.
    Because of that, meal prices for students and adults will increase by 10 cents this year.
    The new costs will be: Breakfast will cost $1.20 and lunch $1.60 in the elementary schools. Lunch will cost $1.85 in Comanche Intermediate Center, Soule Intermediate Center and Dodge City Middle School, but breakfast prices will stays the same. Breakfast at the high school will cost $1.45, and lunch will be $2.25 in high school. For adults, breakfast will be $1.75 and lunch will cost $3.15, which does not include milk.
    Hammond said meal prices increase more for middle school and high school students because as they grow, they eat more. Last year, he said, schools served 862,956 lunches and 297,756 breakfasts.             “The increase has not only been in food costs but also in labor costs," Hammond said. "Forty percent has been food costs and also 40 percent has been labor costs, but 20 percent of these costs are miscellaneous."
    He said district officials will examine the cost of each meal more closely and buy more food from less expensive vendors.
    "We mostly take bids twice a year, and now we are going to buy from those who offer better costs in order to cope with the high food prices," Hammond said. "Sometimes we also buy food supplies locally, but the main aim is to continue to provide students with nutritious meals."
    He said the state paid the district $2.70 per lunch last year. This year, the district anticipates reimbursements of $2.82 per lunch.