Rising fuel costs are prompting school districts to see if they can go on a diesel diet. A top county school official told a public forum in Augusta, Ga., that schools in the region could go to a four-day week next year if the cost of fueling school buses with diesel continued to rise. Richmond County Superintendent Dana Bedden is considering soaring diesel prices as he budgets for the 2008-2009 school year. Higher fuel costs have forced the school board to use $250,000 of its reserve fund in the current school year, Bedden said, according to the local newspaper, the Augusta Chronicle. If diesel prices continue to climb, Bedden said he will recommend to the school board that the school day be extended and the school week drop to four days from five in order to cut fuel consumption. The decision is due by the end of June for the school year that begins in August. Augusta has seen diesel prices rise more sharply than the nation has as a whole. As of May 5, the average retail price of diesel in Augusta, at $4.213/gal, was 51 % higher than it was on Aug. 1, 2007, OPIS data show. The national average for the same time has risen 44%.
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