- April 19, 2024
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A group of bus drivers in Volusia County spoke at the Volusia County School Board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 8 to voice a united plea: Give us a living wage.
Sporting a yellow shirt that read "I carry precious cargo," bus operator Jenny Diaz told the board that bus drivers have long endured poor wages despite their high level of responsibilities. Bus drivers are doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, she said, while often dealing with rudeness and disrespect from parents and students, all while feeling unappreciated and undervalued.
"Day to day, I come to work even when I'm sick because I know we're short on drivers and attendants, and I don't want the kids on the streets waiting for long periods of times to be picked up," Diaz said.
She shared that she makes $13.26 an hour, though she has worked for VCS for four years, and spoke about costs of living continuing to rise. The current rate of pay for bus drivers are $11.44 for training and $13 an hour for contracted employees.
"We safeguard the lives of hundreds of children every day," Diaz said. "That's a lot of risk and responsibilities. We deserve better."
In an email to the Observer, Volusia County Schools spokesperson Kelly Schulz said that in the fall of 2019, the district had 202 bus operators transporting 23,000 students. At this moment, the district stated they have 172 bus operators transporting 24,000 students. There are 50 vacancies that need to be filled.
"We are utilizing everybody possible to meet the needs of our students during this challenging time and we are truly at the bottom of our resource barrel so to speak," Schulz wrote. "We are using everyone in our organization who is authorized to drive or be an attendant even though they are now serving in other capacities."
Volusia County's bus drivers are not alone in their plight.
According to the News Service of Florida, there are proposals moving through the House and Senate that aim to address the shortages of school workers, including bus drivers, as districts around the state experience low staffing levels for such employees. House Bill 1017 and Senate Bill 1576 would require school districts to fund incentives to recruit and retail support staff, subject to the Legislature providing moneys for the effort. Superintendents would have to identify positions within their district with at least 20% of jobs vacant.
Schulz said the district is experiencing delays in the hiring process due to COVID-19, and that they did lose some drivers due to their health concerns, but that the district is "hiring ambitious new drivers — many who never considered driving a bus before."
The district aims to hire at least 20 more drivers by the end of the fiscal year.
Since the beginning of the year, the district has hired two new bus assistants and one operator, according to personnel action items brought before the School Board for approval. Four bus assistants and four bus operators have resigned.
"We have days that we're stressed to the point that it's unbearable," said bus operator Mark Irwin at the School Board meeting. "The buses are overloaded. The kids' behavior is terrible. Parents are angry with us, and we're short handed. We're running multiple routes and running late."
Fellow bus operator Sheila Rush said she'd been a bus driver for over 20 years and still doesn't make a living wage. She shared she had been "in tears" last month when her 16-year-old granddaughter shared she made just $2 less than her an hour working at a Wendy's fast food restaurant.
"I'm here, not because of the money, because there's nothing there, but it's because of the heart," Rush said.
