Durham Public Schools considering salary increase for bus drivers

Leaders with Durham Public School's Board of Education will discuss increasing bus driver salaries on Thursday.

A driver shortage has already resulted in delayed routes across the district.Wake County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools are also short on school bus drivers.

DPS officials said some applicants expressed interest at recent job fairs, but their new plan to recruit and retain drivers involves a salary increase.

Board chair Bettina Umstead is hopeful higher pay will help fill open positions and said the salary hike is expected to pass without any holdups.

"Our board is wanting to make sure we can keep really great bus drivers and recruit and retain talented drivers for the district, so I would fully expect that the board would support the salary increase for bus drivers," Umstead said. "We know that’s really important to keep and retain great talent."

The driver shortage and several absences led to bus route delays on only the second day of school in Durham.

WRAL News learned veteran drivers with more than 20 years of experience will make $1.25 more an hour and drivers with more than 30 years of experience will make $2.50 more an hour.

In Wake County, there are still more than 100 school bus driver positions open, even after the district offered $1,200 in recruitment bonuses to lure applicants.