FIRST TAKE Taking Care WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY
so much more is asked of these drivers than of others. A couple of years ago, an industry expert told me that the biggest challenge was overcom- ing the parity between the low wages paid to school bus drivers and the roles they are ex- pected, trained even, to play in the lives of students, parents, the district and the community. Tis brings me to what is now “affectionately” referred on both sides of the aisle as
T
Obamacare. Te passage of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act three years ago held the promise that it would solve the nation’s healthcare ills. Since then, of course, the reform has been one of the more controversial and confusing topics on the minds of many Americans. Tat certainly holds true of business owners, who have been among the most frightened of the mandate because of potential additional costs in an already fragile economy. Tis month’s issue being it our annual focus on contractors, school bus companies for some time have been preparing for the mandate to take effect, as have the many other manufacturers and suppliers serving the industry. But, as we read in this month’s Special Report by Managing Editor Sylvia Arroyo, school districts are also subject to the regulations. Te major tenets of the law are to expand healthcare coverage while also controlling costs and improving the delivery system. Of the estimated 32 million underinsured na- tionwide, Obamacare also aims to assist the roughly 2.3 million part-time workers who are below the federal poverty line, at least in terms of wages earned. Most school bus drivers easily fall into this category. Regardless of your personal position on the issue, the new healthcare mandate that goes into
full effect on Jan. 1, 2014, has serious implications for the industry. Directors of transportation as well as school business officials and business owners have some serious choices to make on what to do with part-time employees. Which increased employee expense is more palatable? Paying healthcare benefits for experienced drivers who excel at their jobs, or potentially losing those same drivers and being forced to once again pay for the CDL test, background checks and other upfront training costs for their unproven replacements? We also hear this month from Aaron Hobbs, director of transportation for Dallas County
Schools. He and his department have taken a proactive approach to the issues of employee recruitment and retention by implementing sign-on and referral bonus programs last year. Seeing as Dallas County supervises the transportation services for 11 local school districts, it’s easy to imagine the hefty price tag. But Hobbs says the programs have proven to be well worth the added expenses. Meanwhile, another hot topic continues to be insurance rates, which experts tell us are
once again on the rise. It’s also school bus drivers who insurance companies say play a key role in helping a school district reduce its transportation risk. Part and parcel to this is length of school bus driver service. See a trend here? We all most certainly must remain cost-conscious in this new economy, but there’s a
reason driver recruitment and retention has long been a problem that plagues this industry. Tere are driver unions for that, you say. True. All I’m saying is, let us not forget the needs of bus drivers and other essential transpor-
tation support staff — those who can make the daily bus rides of some 26 million students both possible and worthwhile.
ake pause and ask yourself: How happy are my school bus drivers? We often hear about them being on the “frontline” of student safety and serving as the “eyes and ears” for school districts, bus companies and even law enforcement. But while requiring the same basic, behind-the-wheel training for their CDLs,
10 School Transportation News June 2013
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