School districts feeling the heat at the pump
by MIKE MATISZ Student Corespondent

The school districts within the Town of Amherst are feeling the gas crunch as much as the average consumer this year.

With more than 150 buses running among three school districts in Amherst and Williamsville, the amount of gasoline consumed becomes a budget issue.

The Amherst, Sweet Home and Williamsville school districts all purchase the gas on their own, whether they contract the bus system out or not.

Sweet Home owns and operates its own fleet of roughly 58 full-size buses, according to Superintendent Geoffrey Hicks.

The Williamsville Central School District operates about 60 buses and contracts the rest out to First Student, formerly Laidlaw. Even though the school doesn't operate all of the buses, the district pays for all the gas, according to Superintendent Howard Smith.

For Sweet Home, the district is a public entity, which means it doesn't have to pay taxes on top of the gas prices, according to Hicks. But the district still had to find the money for gasoline in the budget.

"This year, we're going to end up being short. Not substantially, but we're going to be short," Hicks said. "When the fuel gas prices go up like they have, you have to re-examine things."

The proposed budget for the Sweet Home School District has allocated roughly $810,000 for all fuel needs, according to Hicks.

Likewise, the Williamsville district is making more room in its proposed budget for next year.

"We're anticipating a $220,000 increase in gas and diesel fuel next year," said Smith. "That's a 28 percent increase."

Both districts will examine their fuel consumption more closely by looking at bus routes and other trips, according to the superintendents. The districts' goals are to decrease fuel consumption while maintaining the same levels of service.

Unlike Sweet Home and Williamsville, the Amherst Central School District does not own or operate any full-size buses.

The district contracts solely through First Student for its bus needs but has to pay for the gasoline that is consumed while transporting its children, according to Gregory Kern, the school business administrator.

Amherst schools use 36 full-size buses to transport students to and from school, he said.

Amherst's proposed budget will increase the amount set aside for gasoline to a total of $200,000, Kern said. Over the course of the summer, the school district will review its current bus routes to see if it can cut down on fuel consumption, according to Kern.

"We constantly monitor our routes to make sure they're efficient," Kern said. "Everybody moves a little bit. We're always tweaking our routes."