While it is somewhat understandable that school bus driver wages vary in different regions of the country, it is amazing to see the pay rate differences within a state.
We have posted two items of interest concerning wages, one gives a good example of differences within the same state, the second addresses the national averages.
At the right of this page are two (2) poll questions, please take the time to participate.
*Connecticut School Bus Driver Wages
| COUNTY |
Average Starting
Hourly Wage |
Average Top
Hourly Wage |
| Fairfield |
$11.25 |
$13.61 |
| Middlesex |
$9.85 |
$13.61 |
| Windham |
$10.25 |
$13.31 |
| Tolland |
$10.02 |
$13.00 |
| New Haven |
$11.02 |
$12.89 |
| Hartford |
$10.57 |
$12.73 |
| New London |
$9.82 |
$12.72 |
| Litchfield |
$10.53 |
$12.37 |
| Winsted |
$9.60 |
$11.90 |
The average starting hourly wage for a school bus driver is
$10.40 and the average hourly top wage is $12.95.(for Connecticut)
*Average SCHOOL BUS DRIVER Wage:
February 27, 2001
These are the lastest averages recorded. Some, if not all, have probably increased slightly since this study was completed.
This report was prepared by Lynn Marx, Research Attorney .
These numbers were supplied by the Connecticut Department of Labor.
SCHOOL BUS COMPANIES AND DRIVERS
By: Lynn Marx, Research Attorney
You asked about the number of school bus companies in Connecticut and
the average school bus driver wage.
SUMMARY
There are 35 school bus companies in Connecticut. In addition, some
school districts maintain their own fleets of buses while others contract out
routes to independent owner-operators.
According to the most recent data available from the state Department of
Labor, the average school bus driver wage is $10.01 per hour. A survey by
the Connecticut School Transportation Association (COSTA) shows that the
average starting hourly wage for a school bus driver is $10.40 and the
average hourly top wage is $12.95.
SCHOOL BUS COMPANIES
According to the COSTA, there are 28 companies that provide regular route
transportation for Connecticut school districts. There are seven companies
that provide specialized transportation service, usually in smaller vehicles,
for students with medical or behavioral needs.
Fifteen school districts own and operate their own regular route school
buses. The towns are: Ashford, Canterbury, Glastonbury, Haddam and
Killingworth, Killingly, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Montville,
Newington, Plainfield, Preston, Putnam Sterling, Thompson, Voluntown,
and Woodstock.
Two school districts in the state, Newtown and Regional School District #5
(Bethany, Woodbridge, and Orange), contract with about 52 individuals to
service single routes. The individuals typically own one bus and drive it
themselves.
AVERAGE SCHOOL BUS DRIVER WAGE
According to the state Department of Labor, the average wage in 1999 for
school bus drivers in Connecticut was $10.01 per hour. COSTA recently
did a survey on school bus driver wages in Connecticut. One hundred
fifty-eight of the 163 school districts are covered in the survey. According to
the survey, the average starting hourly wage for a school bus driver is
$10.40 and the average hourly top wage is $12.95.
********
"NATIONAL WAGES"
RESEARCHED BY JACK KRAMER AND COPIED FROM 2SAFESCHOOLS...
I believe I obtained the starting pay figure from reading
one of schoolbusfleets recent surveys. I seem to
remember it was a nationwide starting average for
district fleets, but it may have been a union report on
bus driver starting pay, such as from an NEA
publication. I'll look for it and post the details.
The overall average hourly wage in the U.S., for
combined union and nonunion bus drivers, is covered in
SBF's 2001 Fact Book (page 57), is based on a
nationwide average and I believe covers the years
1998-99:
School Districts: $12.23 per hour
Contractors: $10.76 per hour
Union drivers typically out pace nonunion drivers, often
earning well above the average. Some fleets are paying
in the $20.00+ per hour range, while others are
seriously underpaying their drivers, (in my opinion)
pulling the overall average down. South Carolina and
Mississippi (statewide) are probably the poorest paying
in the nation. They look great on paper, i.e per-pupil
cost to transport (lowest of most states), but most
likely achieved those lower costs by underpaying their
bus drivers.
In the Bethlehem Central School District (just outside
Albany, New York, about 4,700 students, kindergarten
through grade 12 enrollment), starting school bus
drivers make $15.59 per hour and work an average of
5.75 hours a day and more than two dozen of the
drivers are employed full time. In contrast, driver
salaries in the nearby Voorheesville district begin at
$10.42 per hour with the highest about $15 -- nearly 60
cents less than Bethlehem drivers' starting wages,
according to Michael Goyer, transportation director for
the district. All these drivers do the same job and have
the same responsibilities regardless of where they
work. (Guess who has the driver shortage.)
I have studied this market for several years, looking for
some resemblance of balance that fits split shifts, the
technical and behavioral training requirements, skills,
ethics, the high level of stress, risk and responsibility
school bus drivers nationwide endure.
A properly trained, skilled and experienced school bus
driver (ten or fifteen years+ or professional licensed
and certified training with experience) I believe is a
bargain at around $21.00 per hour and with a minimum
five hour per work day guaranteed -- plus good
benefits.
That works out to around $18-$20,000 per 9 month
school year (aprox, not including nonpaid school
breaks) or $25,000 working year round at 5hpd. This
number (ratio) is still below the U.S. Census median
earnings for men and women (from 15 years of age on)
who worked full-time, year-round two years ago:
U.S. Census real median earnings for men rose from $36,126 to $36,476 between 1998 and 1999 and
earnings of women working full-time, year-round remained statistically unchanged at $26,324. Female households, no husband present was $26,164 while males earned $41,838. Single Females earned $20,000 while single males made $31,000. Real median
household income rose significantly in 14 states and the District of Columbia and did not decline in any state.
At $25,000 (year round at 5hpd) single men would still
loose income but single women would exceed their
median earnings -- but NOT necessarily their
counterparts earnings in other technical occupations or
even similar driving occupations (such as UPS and
others).
When combining and averaging the sexes incomes, and
deducting the difference between 8 and five hour work
days, school bus drivers at $21 per hour still end up
with less income then is appropriate for most wage
earners. Even at a full 8 hours per day, 5 days per
week, year round (50 weeks, unlikely because of the
abundance of nonpaid school breaks), school bus
drivers would only earn around $42,000 a year. Not
that great a wage for specialized technical wage
earners, but would likely end the bus driver shortage.
Understand, there is no school bus driver shortage.
What there is, is an abundance of industry-wide school
bus driver maltreatment agendas that extend even to
payroll rip-offs. When school districts stop looking for
slave labor and get to the business of properly training,
supporting and paying a decent wage to their bus
drivers, then expect the "so-called" bus driver shortage
to end.
Until the abuse stops, a lot of folks, temporarily
suckered in to driving school bus, simply wise up quick
and leave, while a huge market of excellent prospects
simply continue to ignore those silly bus driver adds.
Bus driver shortage? Rubbish!
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