Allen ISD would join a fuel-buying cooperative run through the Texas school boards association, with no membership fee

Allen ISD is looking for a way to stop guessing what it will pay for gasoline and diesel.

The school board is set to vote Monday, Oct. 26, on joining the Texas Association of School Boards Energy Cooperative, a buying group run by and for local governments. Membership would open the district to the cooperative's fixed-rate fuel program, which lets members agree to a fuel price with one of the cooperative's chosen vendors for a set period.

The item sits on the consent agenda for the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Professional Learning and Auxiliary Services Building, 610 E. Bethany Drive.

How the program works

According to a memo from Assistant Superintendent Kyle Penn and Purchasing Director Cedric Brown, joining does not set a price by itself. The district would decide when to sign a fuel purchase agreement, and the rate would be whatever the market offers through the cooperative's vendors at that time.

The memo says the arrangement is meant to soften swings in fuel prices and make the budget easier to predict, and that the cooperative pools members' buying power and can offer contracts longer than the industry usually does.

Joining costs nothing each year. The only requirement to join is board approval of an interlocal participation agreement, which renews each year on its own. Under that agreement, the district could leave at any time with 30 days' written notice, though any fuel or electricity contract it had already signed through the cooperative would still have to run its course.

The cooperative also runs an electricity aggregation program, but the memo describes the fuel program as the reason for joining.

Sources

meetings.boardbook.org

meetings.boardbook.org