Fun with numbers

By Doug Page | Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 10:14 AM

The yellow limousines are off the roads for the summer, which is a good time to look ahead to the fall.

Doesn’t take a genius, or a benighted columnist, to know that all our transportation costs are higher than a cat’s back.

Likewise, we all are trying to make do with what we’ve got.

We don’t go out to eat as often.

Fish sticks have replaced salmon.

We buyer cheaper beer and play less golf.

We ride the bus or bike.

Doctor and dentist appointments are less frequent.

We do without.

That’s because fuel prices are sucking away the money we use for our day-to-day expenses, not to mention our savings — if we are among the lucky minority to have any.

School districts are in the same boat. Those fuel costs are sucking the life out of their general fund, the money they use for those day-to-day expenses.

We — this isn’t a shocker — expect our school districts to do without too.

Here’s a little exercise that may challenge the basis of that expectation.

One way for school districts to do without is to bus at the state minimum. That would mean no busing for high school students and busing only those elementary students who live two miles or farther from their school.

Suppose you have a high school student. Suppose you live 4 miles from school. Suppose your vehicle gets 25 mpg, and gas is $4 a gallon.

Now suppose you drive the supposed kid in the supposed car to the supposed school each of the 178 school days.

That’s going to cost you $227.84 in gas.

That’s the equivalent of 7.4 mills of new property tax for the owner of a $100,000 home. It might be cheaper to pass a new tax levy.

But that only applies to those who have high school students. It’s their kids, let ’em pay for them, some might say.

Let’s make some more assumptions.

Assume you are interested in making this country less dependant on oil. And assume a 70-passenger school bus gets 6 mpg.

Also assume the school bus is half full, 35 students.

That would mean the yellow limousine gets 210 miles per gallon per student.

Try that in your hybrid. That’s a lot of gas not getting used.

Here’s another.

Assume it costs $4.47 (the average 2006 cost of Northmont, Trotwood and Brookville districts) to run a 70-passenger school bus one mile.

Also assume that school bus is half full again, 35 students.

That would mean is costs 12.8 cents a mile per student.

The IRS figures the cost of operating a car at 50 cents a mile.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Cutting student transportation may save money in the short run.

Its long-run economic costs makes it a bigger loser for all of us. It makes about as much sense as not funding public education.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Clayton, Englewood, Issues, Trotwood-Madison, school funding