All 28 school divisions in Saskatchewan, including Southeast Cornerstone and Holy Family, have agreed to enter into a bulk fuel purchase agreement with Federated Co-operatives Ltd.
The bulk fuel buying follows the work of the Advisory Panel on Educational Governance Renewal by the ministry of Education. Each year, school divisions use more than 14 million litres of fuel for student transportation. It is estimated that the cost savings from this agreement will be approximately $1 million per year.
For Cornerstone, their fleet of 116 regular route buses and 40 spare buses use about 840,000 litres a year, said Andy Dobson of transportation services.
The school division had been using the Co-op before, as has Holy Family, and with this provincial agreement, they had to change their cards for the bus drivers so they can use the Co-op cardlock system. Dobson noted they will now be getting a bigger rebate through Federated Co-op than they did through the local Co-op, as now they will get seven to 10 cents a litre, which will be a substantial savings with the volume of fuel they use.
“We asked school divisions to work together to find cost-saving alternatives that would free up resources for classrooms and front line supports,” said Bronwyn Eyre, Education minister. “These savings will help ensure resources continue to be focused on where they belong, in the classroom.”
