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The Queen Anne’s County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a request by the county Board of Education to transfer $250,000 within its budget to cover sharply rising diesel fuel costs. The school board is required to get approval from county commissioners to transfer funds within major categories of the school board budget. Robin Landgraf, chief financial officer for the county school system, said on June 4 the school board faced sharply rising transportation costs, and money within the budget needed to be shifted to meet the shortfall. She said the school system requested permission to move $250,000 from the fixed charges and instruction categories of its budget to the transportation category. The school system pays $1.09 per mile to independent school bus drivers, but the fee increases by a penny per mile for every 5 cents per gallon increase in the cost of fuel above $2.85 per gallon. Landgraf said the school system paid additional costs of 30 and 38 cents per mile because of higher diesel fuel costs.

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