SC school districts are facing a bus driver shortage. Here’s how one district fixed it

As scientific and social understanding of COVID-19 increases, it’s becoming increasingly clear that many people believe students, especially young ones, need an opportunity to be physically inside the classroom.

But schools throughout the country are facing another problem — not enough bus drivers to get children to school.

Every Midlands district The State spoke to had at least some shortage of bus drivers. Except one: Lexington 2 in Cayce and West Columbia.

Lexington 2 recently had a bus driver shortage, but rectified that by conducting a recruitment drive. Applicants who had previously driven large vehicles in the military or in a commercial setting were given a higher starting pay, spokeswoman Dawn Kujawa said in an email. The district also pays retention benefits, health insurance, dental insurance, a retirement plan and sick days.

As a result, “Lexington 2 started the year fully staffed, and we are still at full staffing,” Kujawa said. “We feel very fortunate.”

Every district The State interviewed for this story has either given pay raises, increased hours or boosted benefits to bus drivers in recent years, but one thing Lexington 2 did that stands out was giving credit for military veterans who drove commercial-sized vehicles while serving.

Recruiting veterans is a tactic that has also been used by the trucking industry — both truckers and bus drivers need a commercial drivers license, or CDL — to bolster a workforce that is also facing shortages, according to TruckersNews.com. Of the 9 million veterans in the workforce, 11% work in “trucking and affiliated industries,” according to TruckersNews.com.

Those who have a CDL are in high demand, and both public and private employers are competing for drivers, according to NJ.com and School Transportation News.

Because of the competition, schools that pay less-than-average for school bus drivers can be at a disadvantage. For example, the median semi truck driver makes $22.66 per hour/$47,130 per year, and the median metro bus driver makes $22.07 per hour/$45,900 per year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The median school bus driver, on the other hand, makes $15.58 per hour/$32,420 per year, according to the statistics bureau.

Vacancies and salary

Lexington 1 in central Lexington County has sought to fix the problem by increasing bus driver pay, first by an additional $1 per hour, then by 5%, paid training, paid holidays, health insurance and state retirement benefits, spokesperson Kathryn McPhail said. Bus driver pay now ranges from $15.75 to $31.69 per hour.

Kershaw County schools currently have 75 bus drivers, but are 23 short of having a full staff, according to spokeswoman Mary Anne Byrd. Bus driver shortages are not a new problem for the district, and to combat this, Kershaw schools have offered extra hours to bus drivers’ schedules so they can get up to 40 hours per week, Byrd said. Full-time school bus drivers for Kershaw County schools can expect to earn between $11.90 to $16.79 hourly, which is an annual salary of $12,862 to $18,140, according to a job posting on the district’s website.

Lexington-Richland 5’s bus driver staffing is at 92%, according to district Transportation Director David Weissman. While the district is down eight drivers, there are several drivers in training. LR5 recently upped bus driver pay. It also rewards drivers twice yearly for perfect attendance, Weissman said.

Richland 1 has been trying to fill these positions by offering $500 bonuses for applicants who already have a commercial driver’s license, free CDL training for those who don’t and a 9.5% raise to bus drivers, spokeswoman Angela Crosland said. A job posting on Richland 1’s website says bus drivers earn between $15,800 and $34,600 per year for 180 days of work.

Richland 2, which has 18 school bus driver vacancies, recently held a job fair to recruit more school bus drivers and had 60 people apply, district spokeswoman Ishmael Tate said in an email. Drivers just starting out can expect to make $16.36 per hour for at least seven hours per day, 183 days per year, Tate said. Richland 2 is also offering a “highly competitive salary and incentive package” that includes a signing bonuses of $1,500 or more, performance bonuses, annual retention bonuses, the state retirement plan, and health and dental insurance, Tate said.