Twice a day, every day in Jefferson County, a fleet of close to 400 school buses wind through mountain roads, zoom through suburban streets and rumble through the foothills, transporting their young charges to and from school, covering a total of more than 20,000 miles a day.
It’s a quaint picture, until you glance at the spiking cost of gas. A good three-quarters of those yellow buses runs on diesel fuel, whose per-gallon price tag has now far outstripped the already hair-raising cost of unleaded.
The average cost of diesel in Colorado hit a record high of $6.22 a gallon this week — that’s almost double the price this time a year ago at $3.56, according to AAA. That dramatic jump is hitting school districts across the state where it hurts: right in the transportation budget…