WASHINGTON: Rising diesel prices following the outbreak of the Iran war are putting severe pressure on already stretched school district budgets across the United States, increasing the cost of transporting students and operating generators.
Officials say the financial burden is becoming unsustainable.
School districts from Yakima in Washington state to Waco in Texas are relying on emergency reserves to keep school buses running. In remote parts of Alaska, authorities are also struggling to secure enough fuel supplies to maintain electricity and heating systems, according to interviews conducted by Reuters.
Yakima Superintendent Trevor Greene described the situation as overwhelming, saying, “It’s more than a straw on the camel’s back, it’s like a haystack.”
The financial strain is among the wider consequences of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has disrupted nearly one-fifth of global oil supplies.
Since the conflict began in late February, fuel prices have recorded one of the sharpest increases in recent history, creating economic challenges worldwide. In the United States, the surge has become a political concern for President Donald Trump ahead of the November midterm elections, where Republicans are seeking to maintain narrow majorities in Congress.
According to the American School Bus Council, US school bus operators consume more than 800 million gallons of diesel annually, making them highly vulnerable to rising fuel costs.
Data from fleet management technology company Samsara showed that diesel prices paid by US fleets have risen 67% since December to $5.52 per gallon. The increase is expected to add nearly $1.8 billion annually to the cost of operating school buses nationwide.
James Rowan, executive director of the Association of School Business Officials International, said the sudden price fluctuations are particularly difficult for schools already struggling with tight budgets.
“Districts can plan for higher costs, but rapid swings in prices make it very difficult to budget accurately,” Rowan said. He added that many districts currently covering costs through reserve funds or temporary solutions may not be able to continue doing so in the future.
A survey of 188 school officials conducted during the week of May 4 by the School Superintendents Association (AASA) found that nearly one-third of US school districts are redirecting funds from other programmes to manage fuel expenses, while almost 20% are using reserve or rainy-day funds.
According to the survey results shared exclusively with Reuters, schools are attempting to reduce expenses by combining bus routes, enforcing anti-idling policies, changing fuel purchasing strategies, delaying maintenance work and cutting administrative spending and staffing.
Officials in Washington State’s Yakima School District said diesel prices there had increased 64% year-on-year to $6.30 per gallon. Superintendent Greene said operating the district’s 60 buses at those prices would cost an additional $213,000 annually, an amount roughly equal to the salaries of two teachers.
Greene said the added costs are especially difficult for the district because it serves a largely agriculture-based community with an 86% poverty rate and is already “tremendously underfunded.”
District Chief Financial Officer Jacob Kuper said the school system is making smaller fuel purchases whenever prices dip rather than filling its 30,000-gallon diesel tank completely, as the district attempts to “limp through the end of the year.”
In northwestern Minnesota, Thief River Falls Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Mills said diesel costs for transporting approximately 800 students have increased around 30% since the Iran war began.
Mills said the district is trying to prevent direct impacts on classrooms but warned that continued price increases could eventually force reductions in student support services.
Even oil-producing Texas has not escaped the effects of rising fuel prices. The Waco Independent School District, which operates more than 80 buses covering average round-trip routes of around 60 miles daily, reported an 84% year-on-year increase in diesel costs in early April.
In southwestern Alaska’s Yupiit School District, diesel is essential not only for transportation but also for heating classrooms and powering community generators.
“If they can’t produce electricity, then we can’t run the school,” Yupiit Superintendent Scott Ballard said during a telephone interview from his office in Akiachak.
The district, which serves around 550 students, faces additional challenges because the region remains icebound for much of the year, leaving only a limited period to secure fuel deliveries.
Ballard said district leaders are now faced with a difficult decision — whether to purchase fuel now at prices nearly 66% higher than last year or wait and hope costs decline. “We’re in a very pressure-packed situation,” he said.
Some of the country’s largest school districts, however, are less exposed to fuel price volatility.
New York City’s school district, the largest in the US by student population, outsources roughly 60% of its student transportation services through contracts that often shift fuel cost increases to private operators, according to Paul Quinn Mori, president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified School District has gradually reduced its reliance on diesel-powered buses over the years. A district spokesperson said about 70% of its approximately 1,300 buses now operate on alternative fuels or battery power.
The spokesperson added that although rising diesel prices continue to affect the district’s transportation budget, Los Angeles Unified has taken proactive measures to reduce dependence on fossil fuels through major investments in clean transportation.