St. James R-1 Board of Education discussed potential changes to its transportation agreement with Copeland Bus, LLC, the company contracted to provide bus services for students. The board is expected to vote on a finalized agreement at next month’s Oct. 14 meeting.

The current proposed agreement does not change what the school district pays in transportation costs, but does modify the payment structure. Under the proposal, the school district will pay the year-long contract in 10 monthly installments of $70,000, plus an 11th payment that is adjusted for actual mileage. Under last year’s transportation agreement, the up-front monthly payments were $65,000.

St. James R-1 Superintendent Tim Webster said that the new monthly rate won’t cost the school more once all bills are settled, adding that the change is intended to help Copeland Bus with up-front operational costs.

“We raised how much those monthly payments are by $5,000 up-front just to help with expenditures throughout the school year for Copeland Bus,” Webster said. “That doesn’t change what we’re actually paying them yearly because if we overpaid them (for fuel and mileage) those last two payments would be significantly smaller.”

Negotiations over the transportation agreement come as fuel prices in the United States have reached historic highs. Diesel fuel, which is used by the vast majority of school bus fleets in the U.S., reached record-high prices in September, at a national average price of $6.31 per gallon, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Under the proposed agreement between the St. James R-1 and Copeland Bus, the district will pay Copeland Bus $4.80 per mile. An escalator clause in the contract also requires that the school district pay Copeland Bus $2.50 per gallon to cover fuel costs, plus 15 percent of any costs that Copeland Bus pays for fuel in excess of that minimum payment.

Under the escalator agreement, if Copeland Bus pays $6.31 per gallon of fuel, they would be reimbursed by the school district for $3.07 per gallon. If the price of fuel were to fall below $2.50 per gallon, Copeland bus would decrease the mileage rate for the cost of fuel below $2.50 by the same percentage.

Board members discussed modifying the agreement to increase the minimum cost per gallon in order to better reflect the actual cost of fuel and potentially allow the school district to pay less if fuel prices fall.

Board of Education Vice President Wes Gahr said, “As far as $2.50 a gallon, I don’t think we’re ever going to see diesel become $2.50 or less.”

Gahr meant that the school district can’t benefit from the terms of the escalator agreement.

Board members considered raising the minimum payout per gallon to $3.50, a price which Gahr said diesel could realistically fall below.

“I can see it falling below $3.50,” Gahr said.

Webster said that raising the rate to $3.50 is feasible and that it could allow the school district to pay less per gallon of fuel.

“So if we bump it to $3.50, if (fuel) goes to $3.49, then he owes us that penny back,” Webster said. “So there could be a chance.”

The spike in fuel prices has affected the school district in more ways than simply routine school bus transportation payment agreements.

According to Webster, it is early enough in the school year that the administration isn’t exactly sure what areas will be most affected by costly fuel. However, he said that the school district has already had some difficult conversations about what kind of travel they can afford. One area that could be affected is traveling for school sports.

“When you look at the big picture with transportation, we have had some conversations of looking at schedules and how far our travel time is for extra games,” Webster said. “If it’s not a conference game or a district game that we’re required to go to, maybe we need to see if we can find a closer opponent instead. We’ve tried to cut back on the distance of trips.”

Another cost-saving measure the school district may be forced to consider is consolidating school bus routes. Under the contract, Copeland Bus is responsible for establishing and maintaining bus routes that are approved by the Board of Education.

Webster said that considering the consolidation of bus routes is a conversation he hopes he never has to have.

“The next conversation that we hope we don’t have is: are there some bus routes we can consolidate? That’s never a great thing because it keeps kids on school buses longer,” said Webster. “But at the end of the day, if that’s something we have to look at as the year progresses.”

The school district also plans to rely on less costly modes of transportation, like using school-owned vans for some trips instead of contracted school buses.

“We’ve got some student transportation vehicles. If we have enough kids that we can fit in those with staff members that can drive, we’ve been taking those because it’s cheaper to use two vans than it is to use a school bus,” said Webster. “That’s some way we’ve looked at cutting costs this far into the year.”

According to Webster, the school district is watching gas prices closely, and hopes that they will start to go down.

“We’re paying a lot of attention to gas prices and we are hopeful that we start to see some decline,” Webster said. Because at the end of the day, as many miles as we put on a day, it’s significant money.”

Copeland Bus was contacted for comment but could not be reached as of The St. James Press’ deadline.