The ongoing school bus driver shortage has been impacting schools around Central Florida with some districts offering bonuses to attract new drivers, reported Daytona Times.
According to the news report, around 100 drivers are still needed in Orange County with the current drivers having to double up on routes. The district is offering bonuses up to $16,000 over the next two years.
Stetson University education professor Rajni Shankar-Brown said via the article that Volusia County where she teaches is also experiencing a bus driver shortage. She said these shortages were driven by COVID 19 retirements, low pay and poor work conditions.
Shakar-Brown told local news reporters that “low-income families are the ones impacted the most by the shortages as they do not have alternative transportation nor the privilege of being able to leave a job and pick up their child.”
President-elect of the Florida PTA, Jude Bruno, reportedly added that without higher wages for bus drivers, schools will continue to have these problems.
Additionally, along with the school bus driver shortage, the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, reportedly said there are almost 10,000 teachers and support staff vacancies throughout the state at the start of the school year.
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