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> The bus driver shortage isn’t just a bus driver shortage — it’s a knot nobody knows how to cut. Uh, pay the drivers more than $37 a year, that wage is a joke

> The bus driver shortage isn’t just a bus driver shortage — it’s a knot nobody knows how to cut. Uh, pay the drivers more than $37 a year, that wage is a joke anywhere in the US

dangle1 5y ago
Worse, $39K/year is extrapolated to full-time equivalent, which the job is not. Per the article: But school bus drivers don’t work year-round, full-time hours. “We’re only guaranteed four hours of pay a day,” Steele said. There are no paid holidays or sick days, she and other bus industry experts say. Benefits vary from company to company, and there’s no guaranteed work at all in summer. “Spring break is all unpaid. Every teacher-compensatory day, every snow day, any time they cannot pay us they will,” Steele said. She added that a recent, failed unionization effort among the Robbinsdale bus drivers started in part as a fight for snow-day pay.
- NotSammyHagar 5y ago
  so of course you have to figure out how to pay them for something else during the day. Why don't hire them to be workers in the school (sometimes called para-professionals). If the schools can't hire enough bus drivers then they simply have to pay more money or not offer busing. The schools don't have tons of money just sitting around, so the next step is more taxes.
  - hn8788 5y ago
    > Why don't hire them to be workers in the school I've got a family member that actually does that. She drives the school bus in the mornings and evenings, and works in the cafeteria during the day.
  - mojomark 5y ago
    >> The schools don't have tons of money just sitting around, so the next step is more taxes. In a world where communities are experimenting with Universal Basic Income (UBI - which I also think is a sorely broken concept) to redistribute excess wealth to citizens just for breathing, I don't understand how the next step towards funding actual work that we need accomplished is to increase taxes. The existing funding just needs to be channeled better to the right places. So, I think the next step is actually electing/highering better managers of school funding.
    - Volundr 5y ago
      It's a very small minority of communities that are experimenting with UBI, and even less of them doing so with tax dollars as opposed to some kind of charity or otherwise funded study. I agree our spending is out of whack, but the programs I'd like to see cut for funding bus drivers are the same ones the folks demanding we cut taxes insist we must keep bathing in money, not the ones aimed at helping people get out of poverty. So given no one is willing to give up their preferred programs, raising taxes seems like the only option if we want to keep transporting kids to school.
rectang 5y ago
School districts have no money to spare. Due to wealth inequality, the fruits of prosperity are accumulating somewhere inaccessible.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  The average school in America spends almost $16,000 per student per year. In some cities like Baltimore, it's over $20,000 per student annually.
  - Xt-6 5y ago
    How much of that is spend on sports facilities?
    - handmodel 5y ago
      I can't imagine (outside of Texas) its very high at all. Most elementary schools dont have anything besides a basic field and gym and the cost per them is usually slightly higher than high school. The biggest increases in expenditures are specialists for children with speech problems, reading problems, learning disabilities etc. as professions like speech language pathologists usually earn considerably more than teachers and the number of them within any school has increased considerable too. I'm not making a value judgement - that's just where the money is going.
      - dragonwriter 5y ago
        > The biggest increases in expenditures are Purchased services (janitorial, professional development, etc.) Staff costs, including teachers, administrators, and specialists, are up only slightly per student (down as a share of total) over time, as are supplies.
      - jkepler 5y ago
        Is the increase in child speech and reading problems due in part to the breakdown of family structures and the corresponding absense or regular family meals together (with conversation) and family reading aloud? Those would be significant handicaps to learning speech and reading if the child doesn't receive good role modeling at home. Does anyone know of socioeconomic studies that look for correlations between family stability/duration and rates of speech/language pathologies?
treeman79 5y ago
In many countries kids walk to school. And walk home for lunch.
- rectang 5y ago
  That's not going to fly in a sprawling suburban school district in Minnesota.
  - toomuchtodo 5y ago
    Parents will need to drive their own kids to school then. No different than consumers who can’t or won’t pay exorbitant fees to have groceries or takeout delivered.
    - Someone1234 5y ago
      > Parents will need to drive their own kids to school then. So is the school day going to get longer or the work day shorter? Or do all households now all need two parents with only one working?
      - toomuchtodo 5y ago
        If there’s no funding to raise pay for bus drivers causing a shortage, it’s possible all of the above to assemble some semblance of a school day. Maybe some kids drop out of school entirely if there’s no transportation and parents can’t provide it. Inelastic demand that exceeds supply results in shortages. “This fall, the shortage became dire enough that Steele’s old route — the one where she knew all the kids well enough to take them to their doorsteps when needed — was consolidated out of existence. In October, the district told parents that 12 routes probably wouldn’t be staffed this year. Steele was transferred to a different route with new kids, and sometimes the chaos of route changes and late buses meant she also had to drive kids home from other, equally unfamiliar routes.”
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]

> The bus driver shortage isn’t just a bus driver shortage — it’s a knot nobody knows how to cut. Uh, pay the drivers more than $37 a year, that wage is a joke anywhere in the US

dangle1 5y ago

Worse, $39K/year is extrapolated to full-time equivalent, which the job is not. Per the article: But school bus drivers don’t work year-round, full-time hours. “We’re only guaranteed four hours of pay a day,” Steele said. There are no paid holidays or sick days, she and other bus industry experts say. Benefits vary from company to company, and there’s no guaranteed work at all in summer. “Spring break is all unpaid. Every teacher-compensatory day, every snow day, any time they cannot pay us they will,” Steele said. She added that a recent, failed unionization effort among the Robbinsdale bus drivers started in part as a fight for snow-day pay.

NotSammyHagar 5y ago
so of course you have to figure out how to pay them for something else during the day. Why don't hire them to be workers in the school (sometimes called para-professionals). If the schools can't hire enough bus drivers then they simply have to pay more money or not offer busing. The schools don't have tons of money just sitting around, so the next step is more taxes.
- hn8788 5y ago
  > Why don't hire them to be workers in the school I've got a family member that actually does that. She drives the school bus in the mornings and evenings, and works in the cafeteria during the day.
- mojomark 5y ago
  >> The schools don't have tons of money just sitting around, so the next step is more taxes. In a world where communities are experimenting with Universal Basic Income (UBI - which I also think is a sorely broken concept) to redistribute excess wealth to citizens just for breathing, I don't understand how the next step towards funding actual work that we need accomplished is to increase taxes. The existing funding just needs to be channeled better to the right places. So, I think the next step is actually electing/highering better managers of school funding.
  - Volundr 5y ago
    It's a very small minority of communities that are experimenting with UBI, and even less of them doing so with tax dollars as opposed to some kind of charity or otherwise funded study. I agree our spending is out of whack, but the programs I'd like to see cut for funding bus drivers are the same ones the folks demanding we cut taxes insist we must keep bathing in money, not the ones aimed at helping people get out of poverty. So given no one is willing to give up their preferred programs, raising taxes seems like the only option if we want to keep transporting kids to school.

rectang 5y ago

School districts have no money to spare. Due to wealth inequality, the fruits of prosperity are accumulating somewhere inaccessible.

missedthecue 5y ago
The average school in America spends almost $16,000 per student per year. In some cities like Baltimore, it's over $20,000 per student annually.
- Xt-6 5y ago
  How much of that is spend on sports facilities?
  - handmodel 5y ago
    I can't imagine (outside of Texas) its very high at all. Most elementary schools dont have anything besides a basic field and gym and the cost per them is usually slightly higher than high school. The biggest increases in expenditures are specialists for children with speech problems, reading problems, learning disabilities etc. as professions like speech language pathologists usually earn considerably more than teachers and the number of them within any school has increased considerable too. I'm not making a value judgement - that's just where the money is going.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > The biggest increases in expenditures are Purchased services (janitorial, professional development, etc.) Staff costs, including teachers, administrators, and specialists, are up only slightly per student (down as a share of total) over time, as are supplies.
    - jkepler 5y ago
      Is the increase in child speech and reading problems due in part to the breakdown of family structures and the corresponding absense or regular family meals together (with conversation) and family reading aloud? Those would be significant handicaps to learning speech and reading if the child doesn't receive good role modeling at home. Does anyone know of socioeconomic studies that look for correlations between family stability/duration and rates of speech/language pathologies?

treeman79 5y ago

In many countries kids walk to school. And walk home for lunch.

rectang 5y ago
That's not going to fly in a sprawling suburban school district in Minnesota.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Parents will need to drive their own kids to school then. No different than consumers who can’t or won’t pay exorbitant fees to have groceries or takeout delivered.
  - Someone1234 5y ago
    > Parents will need to drive their own kids to school then. So is the school day going to get longer or the work day shorter? Or do all households now all need two parents with only one working?
    - toomuchtodo 5y ago
      If there’s no funding to raise pay for bus drivers causing a shortage, it’s possible all of the above to assemble some semblance of a school day. Maybe some kids drop out of school entirely if there’s no transportation and parents can’t provide it. Inelastic demand that exceeds supply results in shortages. “This fall, the shortage became dire enough that Steele’s old route — the one where she knew all the kids well enough to take them to their doorsteps when needed — was consolidated out of existence. In October, the district told parents that 12 routes probably wouldn’t be staffed this year. Steele was transferred to a different route with new kids, and sometimes the chaos of route changes and late buses meant she also had to drive kids home from other, equally unfamiliar routes.”
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]