High energy costs hit schools hard.

With budgets already tight, and facing dramatic cost increases for heating buildings and fueling buses, school administrators are girding for a tough winter, particularly in cold-weather states.

Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, cites one projection that energy costs in his state could increase up to 112 percent over last year, especially for natural gas.

"What we are facing is anybody's guess, and that's the problem," says Patrick Quinn, executive director of operations for the St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools.

His district is focusing on steps like "getting people to turn off their computers and the lights as they leave their offices," Quinn says. The St. Paul schools also are removing half the fluorescent bulbs in their classrooms and considering options like closing schools for "a day or two," shortening the school day, or dipping into the district's reserve fund, Quinn says.

All but four school districts in Georgia honored Gov. Sonny Perdue's request to take two "early snow days" in September and save more than 225,000 gallons of bus fuel daily.

Floyd County Schools, one of the districts that kept schools open, explained on its Web site that it already was conserving fuel and the governor's call did not give parents enough advance notice to deal with child care issues.

Elsewhere, schools in Thompson Falls, Mont. are saving about $60,000 in heating costs by using biomass--wood scraps and shavings--instead of diesel fuel. A local distributor who builds log houses is providing the biomass free except for delivery costs, says Superintendent Jerry Pauli. With the savings, the district was able to hire a new sixth-grade teacher.

U.S. Energy Prices: The Rising Costs

                                   2004      2005      2006

Crude Oil Prices ($/barrel)       35.99     50.25     57.49
Natural Gas ($/mcf)                5.50      7.89      7.85
Retail Heating Oil ($/gallon)      1.54      2.08      2.34
Heavy Fuel Oil ($/mmBtu)           4.86      7.41      7.84
Electricity (c/Kwh)                8.92      9.33      9.46