CCSD spends millions more on fuel as prices rise

Sky-high fuel prices will cost the Clark County School District millions of dollars more to operate its bus fleet this year.

The district said it expects to spend an additional $2.9 million on fuel this school year, which could bring this year’s total annual fuel costs up to $18 million.

Fuel expenses cost the district $15.1 million last school year, a $2.4 million increase from the year prior, according to the district.

“Our current fiscal outlook projects this upward trend in expenditure volatility to persist through the better part of the 2026-2027 school year,” district officials said in a Tuesday email. “The District is working to absorb these costs through the Central Office budget to keep funding in the classroom.”

School buses provided transportation to more than 120,000 eligible riders last school year with about 1,900 buses, which the district said is the country’s largest district-owned and operated bus fleet.

Diesel prices in Southern Nevada reached a record-high average last week at $6.84 per gallon, according to AAA. Diesel averaged $6.82 per gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA.

Regular unleaded gasoline prices in Las Vegas averaged $5.50 per gallon on Wednesday, AAA’s website shows, nearing the local record of $5.61 per gallon set in June 2022.

The rise in fuel prices follows conflict in the Middle East resulting in the Strait of Hormuz’s closure, as well as Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, Patrick De Haan, lead petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week.

“There needs to be de-escalation and the Strait of Hormuz would need to reopen and/or Ukraine would have to slow down attacks on Russian refineries. That’s more impactful to the price of diesel,” De Haan said previously. “But we have these two major geopolitical tensions that are really having an impact on prices, and things aren’t going to meaningfully improve until one or two of those start to improve.”