From the Portland Press-Herald, State to survey schools for fuel assistance:
The Maine Department of Education might seek money from the Legislature to help school districts offset budget-busting fuel prices this winter, a spokesman said Monday.
The department plans to survey districts across the state in the coming weeks to determine which ones failed to budget enough to cover volatile heating oil and diesel costs, said spokesman David Connerty-Marin.
Some district officials say they’ve budgeted enough or locked in favorable fuel prices for the 2008-09 school year. Others say fuel could cost several hundred thousand dollars more than anticipated and result in significant spending cuts in operations and programs.
“We need to figure out who’s in need and find a way to help those folks,” Connerty-Marin said. “For some, it’s a problem. For others, it’s not. It’s all over the place.
The Department might begin by looking at why they reduced their transportation funding calculations at a time of rising fuel costs! The bureaucracy takes away, and then, maybe, the bureaucracy giveth back!