Gas prices have stabilized or slightly dropped in Georgia over the past week.

According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report, the current $3.44 average for a gallon of regular unleaded is down 3 cents in the past week. But it’s still up by 35 cents in the past month, and gas prices are putting pressure on consumers and local governments alike. That goes for local school districts across the state, now spending more of its budgets to fuel-up its fleet of buses.

In west Georgia, Muscogee County schools superintendent Susan Andrews says the higher gas prices haven’t been good of course, but they’ve been kind of lucky about when the spike has hit.

"If this had happened early in the fiscal year and we hadn't budgeted as much, we would be hurting more. It's going to really impact our budget for next year, because we'll have to look at the trend that's occuring right now and use that as the budget figure for next year."

Andrews says for now, if prices stay high, the district would just have to take money from elsewhere in its current budget.

Georgia's current $3.44 gallon average is 10 cents less than the national mark.

Tags: Georgia, gas prices, school buses, Muscogee County, budgets, school districts, AAA Fuel Gauge Report, Susan Andrews