What should schools do?

[ladiesbballcoach]

Diesel is up to $4.00. With contract pricing they are paying about what we pay for a gallon of gas.

 

Boone County indicated in a recent story they use 4,500 gallons per day.

Campbell County said they use about 9,000 gallons per 7-8 days.

 

With all of the athletic trips, field trips, etc, etc, what route should the school districts take?

 

Up property taxes to offset the rising fuel costs?

Offer no bus services for athletic and after school events?

Charge fees for playing sports to offset the costs of fuel?

 

This is a serious dilema that boards, athletic directors, superintendents are facing.

[mcpapa]

One option would be to go to longer days, four days per week. Just getting kids to school and back home would be a much bigger budget concern than the extracurricular stuff.

 

I can see charging modest "participation fees" to help offset the cost of sports and other after-school activities.

[nees1212]

As I mentioned in another thread, combine routes. Three buses pulled out of Hinsdale the other week with a total of probably 10 kids.

[ladiesbballcoach]

One option would be to go to longer days, four days per week. Just getting kids to school and back home would be a much bigger budget concern than the extracurricular stuff.

 

I can see charging modest "participation fees" to help offset the cost of sports and other after-school activities.

 

State law requires a certain amount of days for the students to attend. I believe it is 177. So whether it is 4 days a week or 7 days a week, it wouldn't change how many days that the schools will have to transport the students. Unless, the state legislature would get involved and change the # of days.

 

I am most familiar with girls basketball. It cost about $3,000 per year for the bus driver. Add in $1,000 for fuel (that is a total guess for me) and that is $4,000 per year. Let's say 25 girls basketball players freshmen through seniors and that modest "participation fee" is $160 per player.

 

And I think you then run into a problem with those kids on free/reduced lunch not be able to participate because they cannot afford the $160 fee.

 

Not arguing against your suggestions but rather listing the problems you run into with these things.

[ladiesbballcoach]

As I mentioned in another thread, combine routes. Three buses pulled out of Hinsdale the other week with a total of probably 10 kids.

 

I cannot speak of each district but in rural counties, I don't think this is possible.

 

But I am more talking about the problem with athletics and fuel cost than routes.

 

Talked to a superintendent of a NKY county last night and they indicated that losing bus services for MS athletic events is up for consideration. In NKY, most schools they play that would not be a great hardship.

 

But going from Bracken to George Rogers Clark for a game, is a good drive.

[Big Slick]

Maybe the fees for the participation could just cover the difference(price increase since last budget) not the whole gas/driver budget.

[gchs_uk9]

Talked to a superintendent of a NKY county last night and they indicated that losing bus services for MS athletic events is up for consideration. In NKY, most schools they play that would not be a great hardship.

 

I think you could see the elimination of middle school programs altogether and perhaps combining into freshman/junior varsity teams.

[PepRock01]

What would the cost be to convert the busses to biodiesel? Would it even make an impact?

[ladiesbballcoach]

What would the cost be to convert the busses to biodiesel? Would it even make an impact?

 

Great question. Have zero clue.

 

Side note: Saw that the prices of wheat is going up. It seems farmers are growing more corn than wheat because of the anticipation of the need for ethanol. Since there is a smaller supply of wheat, prices going up for it.:irked:

[HHSDad]

What would the cost be to convert the busses to biodiesel? Would it even make an impact?

http://www.wired.com/cars/energy/news/2005/10/69061

[panther15z30]

State law requires a certain amount of days for the students to attend. I believe it is 177. So whether it is 4 days a week or 7 days a week, it wouldn't change how many days that the schools will have to transport the students. Unless, the state legislature would get involved and change the # of days.

 

I am most familiar with girls basketball. It cost about $3,000 per year for the bus driver. Add in $1,000 for fuel (that is a total guess for me) and that is $4,000 per year. Let's say 25 girls basketball players freshmen through seniors and that modest "participation fee" is $160 per player.

 

And I think you then run into a problem with those kids on free/reduced lunch not be able to participate because they cannot afford the $160 fee.

 

Not arguing against your suggestions but rather listing the problems you run into with these things.

 

I thought this recently changed to number of minutes, which would allow for longer days.

[nees1212]

I cannot speak of each district but in rural counties, I don't think this is possible.

 

But I am more talking about the problem with athletics and fuel cost than routes.

 

Talked to a superintendent of a NKY county last night and they indicated that losing bus services for MS athletic events is up for consideration. In NKY, most schools they play that would not be a great hardship.

 

But going from Bracken to George Rogers Clark for a game, is a good drive.

 

I agree that in rural parts of the counties, nothing can be done with regards to joining routes. However, in densely populated areas, it could.

 

With eliminating the bus services for athletic events, you'll run into issues of getting the kids to the event. With new driving laws, the kids that have a license can't pile in all the younger kids to get to the event. Many parents cannot leave work early to get them to the event.

[KyFans11]

Sounds like eveyone might be scrimmaging with their own team for entertainment.

 

I don't know how it is eveywhere else but I know here (Paris/BC), bus driver fee comes out of that athletic budget that they are driving. So the money they use to pay the bus driver comes from the money they a. fund raise b. fee parents have to pay.

[ladiesbballcoach]

Sounds like eveyone might be scrimmaging with their own team for entertainment.

 

I don't know how it is eveywhere else but I know here (Paris/BC), bus driver fee comes out of that athletic budget that they are driving. So the money they use to pay the bus driver comes from the money they a. fund raise b. fee parents have to pay.

 

Are you sure that is accurate for all sports?

 

For example, assume the boys basketball is self-supportive. Then the board has to kick in funds to get the girls to the level that the boys are. Part of that level includes the funds that goes to pay the bus driver. So, for the cost of running the program, the board picks up the cost for many, many sports.

 

The fundraising cost is to cover, many times, things that go beyond the normal running of the program.

[ladiesbballcoach]

I thought this recently changed to number of minutes, which would allow for longer days.

 

In the infinite wisdom of the state legislature, they did both.

 

They changed one law to certain # of minutes but also passed another that said 177 days of instruction.

 

Many schools were going to add 30 minutes to the day leading up to CATS testing because of days missed because of snow. But was told that they could do that but would also have to put in 177 days of instruction.