LAURINBURG — Just like everyone else in town, The Scotland County School System is feeling the pinch at the pump.

At Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, superintendent Takeda LeGrand, gave the board an indication of how this is affecting the district’s budget.

“We’re all aware of the increase in fuel, as a result, we’re spending more to actually fuel our buses. We’re very hopeful that the state will allot us some additional funds and we won’t have to use local funds. Right now we’re spending a lot more than we have in the past because of the cost of fuel right now.”

But LeGrand said the transportation department has been making efforts to find the most cost-effective fuel sources by calling other vendors to get the lowest prices, but with the rise of fuel costs, the budget is taking a hit.

“It’s something we didn’t expect to pay due to rising fuel costs,” she said.

The North Carolina General Assembly will go into short session in May.

The district is also short nine bus drivers. The bus fleet will also undergo its annual state inspection for buses on Thursday.

The district is also working to launch the dual-language immersion program, which would start with kindergarten students so that they can learn how to be proficient in another language in addition to English. According to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, North Carolina has been a leader in dual language/immersion for over 30 years. “The first Spanish DL/I program began in the fall of 1990, and we now have over 225 DL/I programs in eight different languages: Cherokee, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Spanish, and Urdu,” according to the state’s website.

LeGrand said there of 60 slots available for families who want to participate in the program.

“We’re just beginning to start kindergarten registration,” she said. “We want to get ahead of this as much as possible for planning.”

So far, four slots are filled.

The district is finalizing the summer testing schedule and approved the school calendar for next year.

There are only two reported COVID cases in the district, according to chief academic officer Jamie Synan. One student and one staff member tested positive, but Synan said the numbers in the district continue to stay low.

Masking is optional at schools and has been since early March.