Most metro Atlanta school districts say they're not terribly short of school bus drivers, despite a national survey that speaks of a "severe" shortage.
Cobb County officials said 42 vacancies existed as of Tuesday, but 26 drivers were in training with hopes to soon take to the roads. About 33 drivers were needed in Clayton County.
Officials in Fulton and DeKalb counties said no vacancies exist, though Fulton officials said they were still hiring substitute drivers.
Gwinnett County officials said 121 vacancies exist, more than at the start of school, because some drivers quit after beginning the job. That shortage represents nearly 7.4 percent of the district’s 1,636 driver positions. It is training 45 candidates.
The district is addressing the driver deficit by running double routes and having some managers and supervisors pick up duties, said spokesman Bernard Watson.
School districts have struggled for several years to fill all driver positions as the unemployment rate drops, he said.
"This is basically an economy thing," Watson said. "There are now other opportunities."
The starting hourly wage for a Gwinnett school bus driver is $15.08.
Gwinnett has sought to attract new drivers by offering a referral bonus to employees and sending flyers home with students, among other efforts.
"We are constantly, year-round, trying to hire bus drivers," Watson said.
A School Bus Fleet magazine survey of the nation's 50 largest school bus operators found nearly one-fourth of the respondents called the shortage severe, with about 5 percent saying they were desperate to find drivers. Thomas McMahon, the trade publication's executive editor, said they found similar shortages with districts who run their own fleets, rather than using bus-driver companies, in a survey published last fall. Metro Atlanta's bus fleets are operated by the districts.
“It’s been really pronounced over the last few year,” McMahon said about the hiring woes. “We’ve seen a connection to the unemployment rate. When the rate comes down, there are more jobs available and they often pay better than driving a school bus. It becomes harder to recruit people.”
About 86 percent of Atlanta Public Schools’ bus driver positions were filled, according to a tally last week. APS has 407 available driver jobs this school year, including 56 openings, said spokeswoman Latisha Gray. The district transports about 28,000 students to school.
The drivers on board are enough to cover basic routes, she said. The district is still hiring drivers who will help provide transportation for field trips, athletic events, and other needs such as covering routes when another driver is out sick.
Existing drivers are assisting with those responsibilities when they are not driving students to and from school, she said.
Although not fully staffed, “we’d hardly call it a crisis,” Gray said.
Districts have trouble keeping drivers for a number of reasons, often citing pay, hours and benefit structures. McMahon said another problem is that bus driver positions aren’t full-time and have split shifts with a morning and afternoon commute. Some districts are trying to make the jobs more attractive, adding field trips to the daily schedule or offering work at schools to fill the day.
“Some like the opportunity to work with students and contribute,” he said. “It can be a very fulfilling job, when it works with their schedules. I think the challenge is getting the word out to people who might find it as a good fit.”
School bus driver vacancies
Atlanta – 56 (out of 407 driver jobs)
Clayton County – 33
Cobb County – 42 (26 drivers in training)
DeKalb – none
Fulton – none (still hiring substitute drivers)
Gwinnett – 121 (45 in training; out of 1,636 driver jobs)
