Del. School Bus Drivers May Get More Pay

Delaware school bus drivers and related school transportation programs will likely get a boost.
The Delaware General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee has voted to allocate $11.7-million to fund an increased minimum hourly rate for bus drivers. A few million more dollars would go toward administrative expenses and increasing the basic maintenance allowance.
The recommendations came from the Public School Transportation Committee, a group of legislative and state budget officials, bus contractor representatives and personnel from public and charter schools.

“We rely on bus drivers to safely transport our children from home to school and back every day, and they fulfill that vital role wonderfully. It’s long past time for us to fairly compensate these dedicated workers for their service to our students,” State Representative Kim Williams, D-Newport said. “In recent years, it has become more difficult to recruit and retain school bus drivers. Boosting their pay has been a priority, and I’m grateful we were able to provide a meaningful increase for our partners in the educational system.”
The funding would go into the Fiscal Year 2023 operating budget, which will be voted on by the General Assembly this month.

“School bus drivers are critically important partners in our public education system,” State Senator Laura Sturgeon, D-Brandywine Hundred said. “Like all Delawareans, the men and women we trust to safely transport our children to and from school each day deserve to be paid a fair wage. I want to thank my colleagues on JFC for continuing our work to increase bus driver pay, while also keeping pace with the growing expense of gasoline and bus maintenance, to provide the level of service our schools and our neighbors depend on.”