School Bus Drivers Receive Pay Raise

By SAMANTHA HEARN

The Williamson County School Board unanimously approved bus driver pay increases at Monday night’s meeting, with hopes to attract and retain drivers with the right skills.

Williamson County Schools has faced a bus driver shortage this year, with problems arising over drive times, drivers having to make double runs, and recruitment issues.

“We’ve been working hard for the last 15 months or so to acquire enough bus drivers,” Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney said. “We’ve tried a lot of different things but at the end of the day, it appears pay is the only way to attract the number of bus drivers we need.”

Before the increase, bus drivers started out making $14.72 per hour with no experience. Once they had one to five years of experience, that increased to $15.31. For six to 10 years, it was $15.92. For 11 to 15 years, it was 16.56. For more than 16 years it was $17.22.

With the increases, new bus drivers will start out making $17.25 per hour, with it advancing to $18.95 for one to five years of experience, $20.65 for six to 10 years of experience, $22.35 for 11 to 15 years of experience and $24.05 for more than 16 years of experience.

District 3 board member Eliot Mitchell asked Looney if the pay was based on years of actual experience or just experience with Williamson County Schools.

“The pay lanes there are for years of experience as a bus driver,” Looney said. “I will say we have some bus drivers with experience of 27, 28 years who are making above that chart.”

Current Williamson County Schools bus drivers will receive the corresponding pay level that equates to their experience driving in WCS, or a pay increase of two percent, whichever is greater.

“I am completely supportive of this,” District 6 board member Jay Galbreath said. “I think it’ll be much to incentivize new bus drivers to come on board.”

Based on the current employee salary and unfilled positions, the approximate anticipated cost for the adjustment for current and future unfilled positions is just over $623,000. A budget amendment will be presented in later months when a more accurate number can be presented.

“We are continuing to look for solutions,” Looney said. “One we’re looking at right now is clustering busses by school, clustering them to run multiple routes.”

This solution would hopefully eliminate any double routes by streamlining buses to go to certain schools that are near each other.

District 2 board member Dan Cash said that the job of a bus driver is no easy one, and that these changes will hopefully bring more awareness to what they do.

“I speak with quite a few bus drivers and it’s a tough job,” Cash said. “They’re loading, unloading kids, there are disruptions on the bus, they’re driving to and from school. They’re transporting 25,000 students every morning and afternoon. They’re responsible. If a bus is five to 10 minutes late, I just encourage folks to look at the traffic situation. They do a very good job delivering kids safely and for the most part, on time.”

For more information on how to become a Williamson County Schools bus driver, contact the Transportation Department at 615-472-4950 or apply online at https://selfservice.wcs.edu/apply/employmentopportunities/default.aspx.

Samantha Hearn reports for Home Page Media Group. She can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @samanthahearn.