North Carolina education officials will ask lawmakers for a $40 million school transportation fuel reserve as districts face sharply higher diesel bills, according to WFAE’s report on the Nov. 4 State Board of Education meeting.
The Department of Public Instruction’s request would help school districts and charter schools cover fuel costs above their state allotments. It is a funding proposal, not an appropriation already approved by the General Assembly.
Schools spent about $17.1 million on 3.8 million gallons in the first two months of the 2026–27 school year, WFAE reported. That spending was roughly twice the cost of a similar amount of fuel in each of the preceding two school years.
Higher prices drive the increase
According to the Charlotte Observer, the $17.1 million covered purchases from Aug. 1 through Oct. 6, compared with $8.6 million in each of the prior two years. The state had allotted $3 per gallon for school diesel, and the proposed reserve would cover excess costs based on need.
The Observer reported a statewide retail diesel average of $5.49 per gallon on Nov. 4, citing AAA. Schools buy through a state contract at a lower price, so the retail average is not the price districts necessarily paid.
State lawmakers approved a fuel-tax holiday through the end of November, but schools are already exempt from that tax and therefore receive no additional savings from the holiday, the Observer reported.
Lawmakers will consider the request
DPI official Geoff Coltrane said legislative staff had been notified about the request. The Observer reported that lawmakers were scheduled to return during the weeks of Nov. 16 and Nov. 30, but their response to the proposal was uncertain.
The state provided a similar fuel reserve in 2023, according to WFAE. For families served by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the statewide request concerns the operating costs of the buses that bring students to school.
