Southampton School District Tackles Rising Energy Costs

At , where many of the non-instructional costs are related to fuel prices, district officials say they are confident they have planned accordingly for fluctuating fuel prices — and are attacking energy costs from all sides.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Maria Smith said the district had anticipated high gas prices for the 2010-11 budget, then fuel prices dipped, leaving the district with a surplus in its fuel budget. Anticipating prices will spike again, the district kept the fuel budget level for 2011-12. “I’ll think we’ll be OK, based on past history of expenditures,” she said Friday.

Smith added that the district still needs to by mindful of energy use regardless of how expensive or inexpensive it is. “Just because you have the money, it doesn’t mean you turn the heat up to 85 and wear shorts,” she quipped.

On top of diesel for running school buses, there is the cost of oil and lubricants, and heating oil for school buildings, the bus garage and the district office. “Once the fuels costs go up, that really impacts everything,” Smith said, citing food for the cafeteria and other delivered goods as well.

“The electrical bills all have a fuel surcharge now,” added Randy Dobler, the district’s operations manger. He said the district plans to eventually add solar panels to the high school, but “It hits us hardest with heating oils costs.”

The district’s average price for fuel oil was just $1.10 per gallon during the 2002-03 school year and peaked between $3 and $3.10 in 2007-08, Dobler said. In 2009-10, it dropped to $2.20. The district’s last fuel bill came in at $3.38 per gallon.

In two of three schools, the district has switched from boilers that ran exclusively on oil, to duel-fuel boilers that can also use natural gas.

“Depending on which fuel is more economical, we can switch over,” Smith said.

In another plan to reduce fuel costs, Superintendent J. Richard Boyes said the district is conducting a study to examine bus routes and the passenger capacity of school buses, with an eye toward purchasing the smallest buses possible and consolidating routes.

Boyes said the student population has gone down and the bus fleet could drop from 48 vehicles to 43 or 44 and employ smaller buses that use less fuel. The district is at the beginning of a 10-year bus fleet replacement program, looking to purchase about five buses each year and retire buses that are upward of 20 years old.

As for consolidating bus routes, Boyes said there might be resistance from parents. When the district ended door-to-door pickup in 2007, and switched to designated bus stops for students, there was blow back, he said. “The district took some heat for that.”

Smith explained that parents do not want their children on buses for a long time, and consolidated routes will mean longer rides to school.

Boyes said other districts limit the distance buses can go for field trips and tournaments, to save on fuel costs, but Southampton has not adopted that policy. “It’s a question of community values,” he said — weighing the benefits to students against the cost to taxpayers.