This Is How Gas Prices Are Affecting Florida’s School Districts

On Friday, the AAA reported a new record high for gas prices in Florida. Schools officials are concerned about the impact the price increase may have in the long term.

Florida school districts are also feeling the pinch at the gas pump.

To get kids to school, they will have to spend more of their budget on gasoline than originally planned after gas prices reached a new record high for Florida: an average of $4.37 per gallon, the AAA reported on Friday. The national average also rose by about two cents to $4.33.

In other words, Florida’s average gas price has soared by nearly a full dollar in just one month.

Osceola County Public School (OCPS) transports 23,000 students daily, which costs about $1 million annually on diesel gas for school buses.

“We are very concerned about what is happening because in the last week alone diesel prices for us have gone up by more than 40%,” OCPS Public Transportation Director Arby Creach told News 6.

Creach said the district is not facing a supply shortage, but if prices continue to rise, it will dramatically affect the budget and operations.

“If we exceed our budget, that money has to come from somewhere, and we hope that money doesn’t have to come out of the classroom,” he said.

OCPS has around 630 buses in operation. Each of them uses 95 gallons of diesel a week. A spokesperson for the district said it has seen an increase in fuel costs of about 9% from January to February.

Other districts are looking for different solutions. Seminole County Public Schools said it has a contingency plan for events like this. One of them is focusing on cost reduction savings such as purchasing propane buses.

“As a District, our leaders understood the importance of reducing the use of diesel and increasing the use of propane buses, which helped decrease the fuel cost. Propane has consistently remained cheaper to use than diesel,” said a spokesperson for the district.