Board has new fuel index formula for bus drivers

The St. Landry Parish School Board has adopted a new fuel calculation formula for paying bus drivers monthly mileage reimbursement.

While most of the school buses serving the schools are owned by the board, there are about 15 in service which are leased and operated by contract drivers.

The escalating price of diesel created concerns about how long drivers would contract to assist the board if they were spending more to gas up than they were making to drive.

The new calculation involves a sliding scale that will allow drivers and the board to work around rising and falling (when or if they do) prices.

Essentially, the difference at current rates would be about $14 to the driver on a 20-mile one-way route for a month.

Board Member Quincy Richard said the change came as a result of a study of driver rates of mileage and maintenance reimbursement.

Drivers are paid on the basis of years in the system. The operational expense paid by the state is based on mileage rates established in 1982.

School systems have a local option to adopt a sliding scale that allows rates to more closely track market changes.