When Hill took the director role, HCPS was about
250 driver short. She said since then, ther department increased the salary steadily through different incentives and changed the recruitment style with HR. “We work very hard to recruit our own drivers,” she said, adding that HCPS hosts job fairs at least once a month and works closely with their communications team to do recruitment campaigns highlighting posi- tions through various types of advertising. “In the past couple of years, we’re seeing a difference in the trend of bus drivers,” she continued. “[When I started driving] you had very committed folks that did this for family reasons and then just ended up staying. And they were not the primary breadwinner in their home, typically. “Now we’re seeing a change. This isn’t a job for just anybody. They have to care about kids.”
Technology Upgrades Hillsborough has developed a relatively young fleet,
with an average school bus age of about four and a half years. Transportation orders about 100 school buses a year, upholding a 15-year replacement plan. Keeping
vehicles newer and under warranty reduces pressure on maintenance staff and helps control repair demands, especially while navigating a technician shortage. “We started looking at our fleet about three years ago,
and we realized we weren’t competitive with our local markets for what technicians get paid,” she said. “The commitment had to be either you purchase vehicles that are under warranty, or you figure out how to hire people and pay and keep the older vehicles. So, we did a combi- nation of both.” She said HCPS raised the technician pay to make it
competitive in the area and actively made sure that a majority of the fleet is under warranty. In addition to having warranty providers work on the buses, she said mechanics are certified in some warranty work as well. Burrell added that newer buses can also operate on
longer inspection intervals under Florida requirements, reducing the number of vehicles technicians must cycle through at one time. The improved reliability has allowed maintenance operations to reduce evening shop hours while relying on a smaller on-call team for night- time extracurricular needs, he said. Burrell added that the district’s average fleet age used to
Transportation Director of
the Year Qualities Chris Farkas, right, the deputy superintendent of
operations for Hillsborough County Public Schools, said Laura Hill’s servant leadership, kind heart and consistent advocacy for students and drivers stand out as direc- tor-of-the-year qualities. “You have people that may feel that way about drivers or about kids, but they don’t know how to navigate the climate to make sure that happens,” he said. “She advocates strongly for what she believes in, whether that’s drivers or kids. I think that be- ing a national director of the year is a humbling award, and there could be no one more deserving.” He added that Hill is also effective operationally by ensuring that routes are efficient and dollars are well spent. From her teams sweeping the top honors at the Florida Association of Pupil Transportation state roadeo competition to improving on-time arrival rate by 15 per- cent last year to getting more drivers in the door, “she’s 100 percent owned her part of the operations and done such a successful job from a business sense and from a heart sense,” he concluded. HCPS Superintendent Van Ayres added, “This recogni- tion is a reflection of Laura’s outstanding leadership and the dedication of every bus driver, mechanic and sup- port team member who make our transportation system one of the best in the nation.”
62 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2026
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