NEWARK– School board members defended their decision not to change the budget to address bus driver pay concerns this week.
During Tuesday’s Worcester County Board of Education meeting, school board members reviewed bus driver compensation. They stressed that while they appreciated the work contractors did, the drivers were already paid fairly.
“When you look at the fact that we’re the best paying school system on the Eastern Shore and we’re third in the state I think that says a lot about how we feel about our bus contractors,” said Todd Ferrante, vice president of the school board.
Representatives of the Worcester County School Bus Contactors Association (WCSBCA) approached both the school board and the Worcester County Commissioners this spring advocating for a pay increase. While the school system’s budget includes some increases for bus drivers, WCSBCA representatives said those increases weren’t enough to cover rapidly rising costs. Despite the pleas, neither the school system nor the commissioners adjusted compensation levels beyond what was included in the board of education budget. An effort by Commissioner Ted Elder to bump the rates slightly failed during a county budget work session last week with a 3-4 vote.
School board member Bill Buchanan asked staff at Tuesday’s meeting to review and clarify the fuel supplement paid to bus drivers when prices at the pump went up.
Do the members of school board that voted against this actually believe the bus contractors are making any money at all? At that mileage rate, it barely covers the fuel cost, let alone the incredible increase in maintenance cost and upkeep of the vehicle.
Then Teachers and other school and school board members should not be getting any type of raises, since they don’t have to pay he high fuel cost and upkeep nor has the extra responsibility associated with transporting students.
guess they have some buses and drivers lined up calling their bluff
It’s Worcester County….they just do what ever they want regardless of the circumstance.
Not long ago the technology guy was asked about using Apple products in the PC dominant world by the Asst. Super. He told the AP that it wouldn’t work…they gave him the boot back to the classroom and guess what….the AP now realizes that the Apple interface and OS really don’t work well along side the PCs.
….same issue with the bus drivers. They are bringing up reasonable costs (fuel costs for one) and are totally being ignored. Worcester has a habit of doing this, and Lou is certainly aware. How do I know he is aware? I spoke to him about both issues at the dry cleaners in Berlin last week. He didn’t have an answer for either issue…remember Lou?
oh well….who cares…..nobody, except those affected but what the heck, it’s almost summer and the beach awaits!
Cut Lou Taylor and board member salaries and distribute it among the bus drivers.