More school districts are discovering that propane could be one of the big keys to cutting school bus transportation costs. In fact, according to a 2014 Department of Energy study, "Propane buses are now mainstream, and represent the nation’s fastest growing transportation fuel." Many states now have hundreds of propane-powered buses in their fleets, including Arizona, Texas, California, Nebraska, Oregon, New York, and Pennsylvania.

It's no secret that many school districts around the country are looking for creative new ways to make up budget deficits, but some ideas are going down easier than others.

The Dallastown Area School District (DASD) in Pennsylvania has made headlines recently for its latest budget-boosting move: Beginning in January 2017, it will be charging $2 per student, per day, for school bus transportation to or from daycare centers rather than to the students' homes.

Unsurprisingly, this is not going down well with parents or daycare administrators.

To outsource or not to outsource? For decades, this has been a pressing question which student bus transportation coordinators have wrestled with.

A recent study by The Mackinac Center for Public Policy looked at outsourcing by school districts in several states, including Pennsylvania. They found some interesting distinctions that made Pennsylvania a special case for school bus contracting: