Administrators Balance Costs and Needs

With school districts across the county in the process of finalizing their budgets for the next school year, administrators are taking on the task of balancing finances with the needs of both their transportation department and bus drivers.

The bottom line often leaves administrators and bus drivers alike feeling like there isn't enough to go around.

At Guilderland Central School District in New York , at just over $3 million, the transportation department represents one-third of non-instructional salaries, said Transportation Supervisor Chris Sagendorf.

"It has a significant impact," she said.

Guilderland operates 115 buses and transports approximately 6,000 students daily across 1.5 million miles each year.

Incorporated into its budget are driver pay, which ranges from $13.51 to $19.79 and $10.35 to $15 for substitutes, and benefits including sick days, personal leave, hospitalization, life insurance and retirement benefits.

Pay raises are contractual and negotiated every three years, Sagendorf said. The contract is currently in negotiations, and an estimated increase of 2.75 percent has been added to the fiscal year 2006-07 budget. Financial incentives are factored into the transportation budget to discourage turnover. After three months of employment bus drivers receive a $300 bonus and $500 after six months.

"However, we do not pay for training," Sagendorf said. "So that compensates the driver for the training hours and helps us to keep the drivers after we train them."

One of the challenges of budgeting for bus drivers' salaries and benefits is that they are more difficult to predict than other expenses, said Linda Farbry, transportation director of Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, the12th largest school system in the country. Factors such as program changes, bus problems and even traffic can contribute to higher than planned expenses.

"Our school system has the same constraints as any other, despite the multi-billion dollar budget ($2.1 billion)," Farbry said. "The bulk of the budget goes to the classrooms, as it should."

Nevertheless, she said, the district is currently 176 drivers short. Bus runs are long and heavily loaded, and the transportation department is unable to provide some of the services that the school system wants.

As of July 1, 2005, the hourly rate paid to Fairfax bus drivers increased from $12.90 to $15.76. To fund the raise, Farbry said, the number of non-work paid holidays was reduced from 19 to six, and the $1 million savings was applied to the hourly pay rate. In an effort to recruit more drivers, the district pays a $1,000 recruiting bonus and a $500 bonus to the recruited driver after 90 days.

"School bus driving is a demanding job. It requires a sense of responsibility and a dedication that is rare in business," Farbry said. "They should earn far more than they will ever be paid."

Like many school bus drivers, Katie Spear supplements her income as a school bus driver at Richmond School Department in Maine by working two other jobs - weekends at the local Goodwill donation center and summers driving for the Bath and Richmond recreation departments.

She began her bus driver career 20 years ago first working for a private contractor. After seven years, Spear went to work for the school district, where she could get health insurance. At Richmond , Spear is at the top of the pay scale making $14.06 an hour.

"With all of this, this year I finally felt like I had breathing room financially," she said. "This is the first year I made more than what they say the federal poverty level is for a family of two to pay for basic expenses."

Spear says she doesn't receive retirement benefits and estimates that she will need to work 20 to 23 more years before she can retire.
Although she would like to see more funding for professional development, Spear feels she does "pretty well" considering the size of the Richmond district and economics of the town. For her, compensation comes in other forms.

Source: School Transportation News, April 2006. All rights reserved.