Blog Post 1 - Rising Gas prices and Inflation in Hoover, Alabama
Across the United States, families and individuals are all beginning to suffer from the growing problem of inflation and a rise in gas prices. My hometown of Hoover, Alabama is no different. With the rise of gas prices in Jefferson Country, school districts including that of Hoover City Schools are beginning to spend significantly more on gas for student transportation. With around 60% of students requiring buses for transportation to and from school this could greatly affect school budgets and what Hoover schools are going to be able to afford. In February of 2021 Hoover City Schools spent $34,124.39 on school bus gas. This past February, Hoover spent $61,290.21 on gas. As we can see in just a year, money spent on gas has almost doubled. This could lead to schools having to reexamine their budgets and could potentially result in the loss of transportation for school or other extracurriculars for students. In other districts, there are not currently school bus systems, and if gas prices continue to skyrocket, we could see the loss of the school bus system altogether if the school district can no longer afford it. This could lead to a wide array of problems. For one, parents could start having to carpool their children to school, which will mean they may have to go into work later than normal. Additionally, more cars on the way to schools in the mornings will lead to increased traffic, as well as individuals' families having to spend that money on gas to drive their children to school. Some families, like my own, have children at several different levels of school and having to transport three or four kids all to different schools is not only expensive but very time costly. Ultimately, the community could be severely impacted, if there is not a change made soon. From the school district’s perspective, it is very important for them to prioritize how their budget is allocated if these high gas prices stick around for a while. If they find that student transportation is more important than things like new equipment and technology or for nicer food in the cafeteria, then they will have to decide what aspects of the budget will continue to be funded and which will be cut. Potentially this budget problem could even lead to faculty being laid off, or high school sports being cut if there is not a budget solution soon. From the parents of the students perspective, the loss of the school buses could severely financially impact their families. As stated earlier, having to carpool kids to and from school will be financially costly and will take away valuable time that would otherwise be spent at work. These rising gas prices have taken a toll on the community as a whole and hopefully a solution is found. In terms of how this problem can be fixed, there are a few strategies that can ease the pain of these high prices. First, there is some hope that gas prices could decrease as fall rolls around and schools begin to start spending money on gas once more. However, assuming that gas prices remain high, then the best strategy to combat this issue will be to restructure how the school budget is spent. Hoover City Schools should first look at what is essential that they spend their money on. Student transportation will likely be viewed as high on the importance scale. The schools should look at non-essential costs first to cut. Things like school parties, new athletic equipment, or anything else that can be postponed should be main targets, so that the buses are still able to run. Additionally, extra efforts to fundraise can be made by the schools as a way of raising funds to keep the buses running. In these hard economic times, tough decisions to cut funding for certain aspects of schools can be tough, and there will likely be people angry or disappointed. At the end of the day, the pros of retaining the buses will have to be weighed against the cons of things cut from the budget to find a solution for this problem.