East Valley schools drive to Post Falls for cheaper diesel fuel

East Valley School District is sending some buses across the state line to Post Falls because a short Idaho fill-up can save enough diesel money to matter in a school budget already under pressure. One recent 55-gallon purchase at a Maverik in Spokane Valley cost $328.77, while another East Valley bus bought the same amount in Idaho for about $100 less.

The savings come from a widening fuel-tax gap. School districts do not pay the federal diesel tax of about 24.4 cents per gallon, but they still pay state taxes. Washington’s diesel tax is 58.4 cents per gallon for the current year, while Idaho’s is 33 cents. Washington also raised its gas tax from 49.4 cents to 55.4 cents on July 1, 2025, and boosted the diesel tax by 9 cents total as part of a six-year, $3.2 billion transportation package passed amid a projected $1 billion shortfall. Another 2% annual increase tied to inflation starts July 1, 2026, with an additional 3-cent diesel increase later under the package.

That gap has turned Post Falls into a practical fuel stop for a Spokane Valley district. East Valley’s bus barn is about 3 miles from Idaho’s closest gas station, the AmeriMart in Post Falls, and East Farms Elementary is a little more than a mile away. A detour to State Line, Idaho, is about 7 miles, short enough that interim transportation director Michelle Monzingo said the savings have been broad-based. She estimated about 1 in 4 drivers are now making the Idaho run once or twice a week, usually when tanks are about half empty.

The district said the fuel bill is rising fast. East Valley spent just under $45,000 on fuel in April 2026, up from $28,300 in April 2025. Chief financial officer Neale Rasmussen said the district has been able to avoid some of that pressure by buying fuel in Idaho, but warned that if diesel prices cannot be reduced, school leaders may have to cut elsewhere to cover transportation costs.

The cross-border math also shows how local fuel markets can shape school operations in Kootenai County and beyond. Spokane County regular gas averaged $5.36 per gallon in the same period, compared with $4.61 in Kootenai County. Spokane metro diesel averaged $6.51, while Coeur d’Alene diesel was about $5.50. For districts that run dozens of buses and hundreds of thousands of miles a year, those differences can quickly add up, and East Valley’s workaround could be a sign of how other public fleets may start shopping for fuel outside Washington too.