![]() ![]() “We realized that just continuously bringing people in, training them and then losing them was not cost-effective. That's a pretty good wage for folks that are wanting to get into school bus driving.”Ĭollins said even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district had started to address increasing turnover through a concerted effort toward driver retention, with more employee incentives and appreciation events. So in order to maintain competitiveness, we decided we needed to go at least to $20. “We were below the national average for school bus drivers and below where we needed to be able to recruit. “As the wages here locally continued to increase because of the competition for employees, we realized that we were still behind,” he said, noting the previous base rate was $17.44 per hour. Collins said the increases were necessary to stay viable in the job market. They also doubled the sign-on bonus to $1,000. The District 150 school board recently improved a pay raise for all bus drivers, with the entry level starting rate now at $20 an hour. At a minimum, I'd like to see us somewhere around 70.” But 80 would give us enough drivers for that and then any absenteeism or anything that may occur, give us all the padding that we need. We're anticipating somewhere around 66-ish routes it's hard to say this early in front of the school year. “That would cover any routes that we will have for next year. Josh Collins believes Peoria Public Schools could use as many as 25 additional bus drivers heading into the next school year.Ĭollins, District 150’s transportation director, said the return to a two-bell daily schedule and the recently approved modified calendar will require more than the district's current 55 bus drivers. ![]()
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