Bus drivers wanted: School districts make adjustments, deal with worker shortage

Many school districts across Ohio continue to struggle with finding enough bus drivers and must alter routes to deal with the shortage.

In the West Holmes Local School District, Transportation Supervisor Coreena Johnson was forced to drop one bus route, which no longer had a driver. The students were dispersed onto three different buses.

"It mostly affected the high school/middle school route," Johnson said. "The elementary students were moved onto one bus, and the high school and middle school kids were split up among three buses."

Wooster City Schools OK ... for now

Transportation Supervisor Laurie Sizemore of Wooster City Schools said she is fully staffed at the moment. She will be able to add one route soon that had been absorbed because of a lack of drivers.

Sizemore said she has three field trip substitutes who can fill in when needed but worries about the future.

"Wooster City Schools is fortunate enough to have two contracted subs who come into work every day," she said. "But we have nobody waiting in the wings. When I lose people who will be retiring this summer, right now I don't have anybody lined up to replace them."

The employees have until March 1 to let the district know of their future plans. At least one is planning to retire, she said.

Sizemore does need more substitute aides to fill in.

"It's a great shift to work, 7 to 9:15 a.m., and then 2 to approximately 4:15 p.m.," she said. "It's a four-hour shift that gets you up and moving to start your day, then you have this big open spot to go do what you need to do, and then you're back home by 5 in the evening."

Black River getting by

Black River Transportation Supervisor Bruce Berry said the district's driver situation is not ideal but working.

"I'm filling in as a driver," Berry said. "But so far, knock on wood, I have not had to cancel routes or combine routes, but that would be the next thing. I've had to juggle some people around."

He's interviewed five applicants since Thanksgiving; only one accepted the job.

Ideas to attract bus drivers

Johnson said West Holmes has tried different options to find drivers. She held a drive-a-bus event, and the district is paying for most of the required training, including the first CDL test.

"It is stressful for the drivers, especially if they are sick and need a day off. They don't want to take that time off because they know we don't have the sub drivers," Johnson said. "They have been remarkable."

Johnson said she and both district bus mechanics serve as substitute drivers when needed.

"We're not the only district going through this. It's happening across the country," she said. "Ours isn't as bad as some of the other districts because we're a smaller district. We have fewer routes than some."

West Holmes bus drivers average around 160 miles a day on the 19 routes in the district.

Pay scales vary among districts

West Holmes pays its full-time bus drivers $18.39 per hour to start, with benefits, for the 2022-23 school year.

The district's substitute driver pay ($15.25 per hour) is lower than other school systems. Orrville City Schools, for example, pays $20/hour for subs. Johnson said an increase could help attract new drivers to West Holmes.

Sizemore reports a substitute van driver earns around $14/hour while a substitute bus driver makes $18/hour. When they are contracted, bus drivers go to $21.62/hour.

"We are not the top paid in Wayne County, but we are close," she said. "My employees, if the opportunity comes up, can apply and get a second job, and they can get insurance here."

Black River substitute drivers got a bump of more than $2/hour this year to nearly $17/hour.

"We're competitive with other districts and higher than some," Berry said. "I think the problem is people don't want the responsibility. There is a lot of liability with other people's kids. There is also a lot of training involved for a part-time job."

Not all districts are suffering

Orrville's Transportation Supervisor Matt Wyatt said his district is meeting the staffing needs. Dalton Local's Shane Twining said he has enough drivers, too.

"We're in pretty good shape here at Dalton," Twining said. "Most of the schools around here are doing OK."

Twining said the community support is strong, which helps maintain a solid workforce.

"We have a decent pay scale for drivers, but I think it's a lot of people in the community who have children in the district who are interested in driving," he said.

Twining has hired three Dalton graduates with kids in the school district as drivers in the last 18 months.

"Luckily, I've been blessed here with people who are interested in driving."