Dripping Springs ISD in Texas pays its drivers a starting wage of $30 an hour as a solution to the driver shortage.
mal,” and regardless of the shortages transportation operations will make it work, as they always have done. Zach McKinney, the transportation director for Hamilton Southeastern Schools in Indiana, shared on that same podcast episode that there was one day this past school year when 48 of his drivers called out. It prompted an urgent message to his staff. “I know you have a lot on your plate already, but if you
have time and you can help, I would love the help today. This is what we’re facing,” he recalled. “And I think with that transparency, they see what’s going on and they want to be asked. They want to be acknowledged. They’re skilled in what they do.” McKinney, who is also the president of the School
Transportation Association of Indiana, said that he received responses that day from enough employees willing to help that resulted in every route being covered without issues. He said that this is the same response of other directors. “They just know it has to get done. The driver shortage is a thing and we can talk about at conferences and have panels on it, but nobody has the magic cure,” he said. He added that directors know the hand they’re dealt and
that it’s their job to motivate their staff and to foster an all- hands-on-deck approach. STN contacted districts in each region (Alaska and Ha-
waii were omitted because of lack of responses) to get a pulse on the local driver shortage and staffing situation.
Pacific Region Grants Pass School District #7 in Oregon, located near
the border with California, offers its drivers a starting wage of $21 an hour. Transportation Supervisor Jeremy Carnes shared that he feels that’s a good starting wage given the hours offered and the current local economy. Additionally, Carnes said drivers with 15-plus years of experience could make a starting salary of $34 an hour. If a driver completes a full year with at least satisfactory
job score, he added, they will automatically get a 3 percent wage per the district contract. Currently, Grants Pass is fully staffed with 69 unionized drivers. Carnes added that minimum contracts start at four hours a day and all posi- tions offer benefits. “This is a great thing for some people to continue to work a minimum contract to continue to receive these benefits,” he shared. “The more a person works up to [a] six and half hour contract will give a per-
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