Hinson asks for local funding assistance

When Independence Superintendent Jim Hinson came to the Independence district in 2001, diesel fuel was only 67 cents a gallon.

Seven short years later, the Independence School District is paying almost $4 per gallon to run its school bus fleet.

“The cost has increased dramatically,” Hinson said at the Independence Board of Education meeting Tuesday. “The money has to come from somewhere. We try to be as efficient as possible, but at the same time, we have to transport our students.”

The cost of diesel fuel was discussed as Hinson made a presentation on the state’s education budget, which was approved last week by the Missouri Legislature. He said despite an already promised increase in the overall education budget, there will only be flat funding for transportation during the 2008-09 school years.

Hinson said what this means for the Independence School District is that more local funds will have to be used to make up the difference from what the state is providing. By state law, the state of Missouri should reimburse public school districts for 75 percent of their transportation costs. With the flat funding in next year’s budget, that reimbursed amount will be less than 50 percent.

“The increase in fuel is significant for all school districts,” he said. “With stagnant transportation funding, we will have to make up the difference somewhere. The state is not keeping up with the cost to operate public school districts.”

Independence currently has 150 buses and runs 250 bus routes twice a day to the elementary, middle and high schools. Hinson said at this time, there has been no board policy created curtailing field trips or the use of school buses. However, he said there has been careful monitoring of all extra-curricular activities, sometimes sending multiple teams on the same bus if they are going to the same location.

The dramatic increase in fuel costs is also affecting food and delivery costs in the district. Hinson said in order to break even in the food service department next year, the district will have to increase meal prices this summer. The specific increase is not known at this time, but Hinson said it would be “significant.”

“This is really an issue beyond our control,” he said. “We have to make sure that we don’t run a negative balance (in the food service budget). Our food prices have already increased 20 percent since the start of the school year and our vendors are saying it will be even more over the summer. The result is higher meal prices.”

The board of education will further discuss the meal prices for the 2008-09 school year sometime this summer.