On Friday, average gas prices in the U.S. were $3.03 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. Fuel prices that already were hitting record highs this time last year have increased by as much as 50 percent in some areas.

Many districts have taken steps aimed at addressing the habits of school bus drivers, such as setting policies that forbid the idling of buses while warming up or waiting for students. Schools also are canceling or reducing the number of routes they run, decentralizing district garages, combining pick-up points for students, canceling transportation to extra-curricular events such as football games--and canceling most field trips altogether.

Technology also is playing a part in these efforts, with some schools using geographic information system (GIS) software to better plan bus routes, as well as programs that help with inventories and preventive maintenance for the buses themselves. Some districts also are supplementing petroleum-based fuel products with those refined from biological materials. Although these biodiesel fuels are intended primarily to reduce toxic gases released into the atmosphere, many users are reporting cost savings on biodiesel fuel when compared with traditional fuel costs in the present economic climate.

Lucas Conrad, treasurer of Cabell County Schools in West Virginia, said the long-term effects of the fuel crisis are uncertain.

"Of course, we are concerned about the initial cost of the fuel for the purposes of transporting students," Conrad said. "But we just do not know yet what the far-reaching effects of pricing [increases] will be."

He noted: "Heating costs will increase. The prices for textbook and food deliveries, the cost of running our own maintenance vehicles, those will increase, too. The vendors we work with, we know their costs are going to go up for the same reasons." In short, rising fuel costs impact nearly every facet of school district budgets.

Conrad said that, for the current year, his district will use contingency monies to cover the increased costs. But he said in future years "something will have to give."

"Some programs we are now supporting will have to shrink," he said. "In simple terms, there's only so much money available."

Dan Roberts, director of transportation for the Round Rock Independent School District in Texas, revealed just how much his district's diesel fuel bills have increased in the past three years. According to Roberts, his district was paying 97 cents a gallon on average for diesel fuel in the 2003-04 school year. He saw that increase to $1.58 a gallon for the 2004-05 school year.