Cumberland County school bus drivers hold 'sick out' Wednesday morning over pay
Cumberland County school bus drivers are sick of not being paid enough. On Wednesday, dozens called out in protest.
Superintendent Dr. Marvin Connelly blames the "pay compression" – the small gap between new hires and long-time service – on a state requirement that newly hired bus drivers be paid $15 per hour. In Cumberland County, those with the most experience make just $15.93.
“We think we deserve more,” said Cumberland County Schools bus driver Dorothy Dixon. “We just don’t think it’s fair.”
Dixon said she thinks school bus drivers with years of experience should make $19-$20 per hour.
Just last week, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools raised bus driver pay to $20 an hour, setting the bar for the highest pay rate in the Triangle.
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This is not the first time Cumberland County school bus drivers have done this. In November 2021, Cumberland County Schools bus drivers held their first "sick out," which ultimately led the district to raise their pay.
In November 2021, the starting pay for drivers in the district was $12.21.
“They don’t want to pay the bus drivers what they deserve,” Dixon said of the district’s current salary.
Dixon said the district’s mechanics are also overworked and underpaid.
There has been a widespread bus driver shortage impacting multiple school districts throughout the 2022-23 school year.
“We are fed up with it,” Dixon said.
"We love the students," she said, "but you know, by us doing this, this is the only way that we are going to be heard."
Connelly says a state-created problem costs the county money that it doesn't have.
"I think we have have to continue to petition the state to address the compression issue statewide and not just let it be up to the local counties to solve it," he said.
The Cumberland County delegation of state lawmakers is meeting with the board of education on Friday. It's meeting that was already planned, but Connelly is sure it the issue of salary compression is going to be discussed.
Parents will want to make plans now for alternate transportation. We’re told the "sick out" will last the rest of the week.
