Pay increases for substitute teachers, school bus drivers as system seeks to hire

To deal with a shortage of school bus drivers and substitute teachers, the Fayette County Public School board on Monday increased the salaries of both.

School bus driver salaries will increase from $14.20 to $17.76 per hour so that they will remain regionally competitive, district director of transportation Marcus Dobbs said after a school board planning meeting.

Human Resources Director Jennifer Dyar told board members that the salary increase for substitute educators was an effort to remain competitive with surrounding districts. Paraeducators — classroom assistants — currently earn $10.90 per hour. That will increase to $12.50.

The daily salaries of substitute teachers will increase by varying amounts — as much as an additional $16 —depending upon whether they are retired and the specifics of their certification.

Currently, the school district is short 28 bus drivers, said district chief operating officer Myron Thompson. The shortage has affected school districts in much of the nation. Last year, Fayette officials attempted to offset that shortage by offering financial incentives to drivers for good attendance.

That move isn’t “yielding the results we want to see,” Thompson said.

Not only is the Fayette school district bus driver salary not competitive with other districts in the region in driver salaries, said Thompson, it is not competitive with Lextran, which provides public bus transportation in Lexington.

With more than 13,000 bus stops, the school district transports approximately 20,000 students more than 3.5 million miles annually, according to a school board document.

The school district has been dealing with the driver shortage for the last few years.

“The district has been aggressively recruiting bus drivers and has implemented several strategies but struggles to fill routes,” the document said. “The transportation department has been able to sustain and cover routes by utilizing employees other than bus drivers who possess commercial drivers licenses, but it is reaching a point where service to students and families will be impacted.”

District officials are attempting to hire more drivers by creating various marketing strategies such as planning job fairs and working on digital marketing.

This story was originally published January 15, 2019 at 10:42 AM.