Contract saves school district from fuel costs

MAT-SU — As drivers cringe at the rising costs of fuel, the Mat-Su Borough School District can watch the steady stream of yellow buses roll out every morning without batting an eye at fuel costs.

That’s because the district does not have a fuel clause in its contract with First Student, the transportation company contracted to provide busing for an estimated 8,000 Valley students a day. That also means that while other areas of its budget are affected by soaring fuel costs, getting students from Point A to Point B isn’t breaking the bank.

Bill Cheeseman, the Mat-Su school district’s pupil transportation supervisor, said the district would rather keep a fuel clause out of its busing contract and continue that philosophy when the contract comes up for renewal in 2011.

“We’re minimizing our costs at their expense,” Cheeseman said.

The contract between the school district and First Student sets a per-day rate for busing based on how much it costs purely for the busing service. That, Cheeseman said, allows district officials to breathe easier when fuel costs soar.

As of Friday, oil futures were trading at a record $119 a barrel, according to Bloomberg.com.

The money saved on bus transportation by the school district because of its contract language is illustrated by looking down the Glenn Highway to the Anchorage School District.

Steve Kalmes, the Anchorage School District’s director of Transportation Services, said the state Department of Education urged Anchorage to put in a mechanism that would save its contractor from predicting fuel prices five years out.

Because of that, the buses Anchorage does contract — the district operates 84 of its own — require the district to pay for fuel whenever the price climbs above $2.68 a gallon.

“Just yesterday fuel increased by 20 cents a gallon,” Kalmes said, adding the district has paid $5,000 to $10,000 more than expected so far this month.

Still, the Mat-Su district is not out of the woods when it comes to feeling the pinch at the pump. Although busing is a large transportation expense, the district does employ the use of other vehicles, such as delivery trucks. Fuel for those vehicles comes directly from the budget, district spokeswoman Catherine Esary said.

While Esary didn’t have numbers showing just how much money the district has had to spend on extra fuel costs this year, she said a comprehensive energy saving plan is in place.

Seat A school board member Jim Colver said those schools largely off the grid, such as Trapper Creek, Willow Elementary and other remote sites, are being hit especially hard by high fuel costs because of their reliance on fuel oil for power.

Officials all agree on one thing: what the price of fuel will be tomorrow is anybody’s guess.

When it comes time for the district to negotiate with First Student for another five years of service, the busing company will “have to get out their big crystal ball and hope they can guess what its going to do for five years,” Cheeseman said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or michael.rovito@frontiersman.com.