Patrents struggle

Hard times and higher fuel prices have followed kids back to school this fall. Many children are walking farther to the bus stop and paying more for lunch. Some are wearing last year's clothes. New textbooks and fancy field trips are a thing of the past, too. In addition, costs for air conditioning and heating, cafeteria food, and classroom supplies are rising. In some places, it's costing nearly twice as much to fuel the yellow buses that rumble to school each morning. Blame these rising costs on the shaky economy. School districts, like everyone else, are feeling the pinch this year. They're trying new ways to keep costs under control. Meanwhile, parents are making up the difference. Many school districts are trying hard to save money. Montgomery County is a district outside of Washington, D.C. Montgomery is heating or cooling only the rooms that are in use. Other school districts are trying to spend less on expensive bus fuel. Hundreds of districts have cut or reduced bus routes. This increases the distance that students must walk to catch the bus. In San Jose, California, parents must pay more for bus service. This helps make up for increased fuel costs. In California's Folsom Cordova School District, bus service for high school students was cancelled. A school district in rural Minnesota has taken a different approach. The district is cancelling classes every Monday. This saves the district at least $65,000 in fuel. Still, there is a cost. The rest of the week, classes are ten minutes longer each day. Kids have to stay awake and alert later in the day. Some parents have to find daycare for their children on Mondays.Other school districts are asking parents for help. In Paw Paw, Michigan, schools are asking parents to drive to athletic trips. Parents in Waterford, Connecticut, are paying for field trips that the school district used to pay for. What's more, many schools are cutting out field trips altogether. The Montgomery County district is cutting funds for its award-winning math team. Parents will have to step in to keep the team going. In spite of parents' help, many school districts will struggle to break even this year. As fuel prices have rocketed higher, the cost of food has also zoomed up. Some schools are charging students more money for school lunches. In Jacksonville, Florida, for example, the price of a school lunch rose from $1.45 to $2. More than half of all schoolchildren in the U.S. get free or reduced-price lunches. Still, government assistance is often not enough to cover what the meals actually cost. This often means that schools must pay the difference. It's not easy for school districts these days. With a little teamwork between parents and schools, though, the future might be a little easier.