ORLANDO, Fla. – The first day of school is here, and some Orange County students may be waiting longer than expected for their bus to arrive.
Orange County Public Schools is heading into the new year short on bus drivers, and staff says the situation has never been this bad.
Bus driver Wanda Wright has seen the shortage firsthand. She retired in 2020, but the district called her back just a year later.
“I thought, well, okay, I’ll go ahead and go back, and maybe six months they’ll have enough people,” Wright said. “But I’ve been there five years.”
Wright was reviewing her routes for the upcoming year when the numbers gave her pause. Under one route option, she would be responsible for 189 high school riders, but her bus can only hold 77.
In late July, OCPS Director of Transportation Services Bill Wen told News 6 the district needed 200 drivers. As of Friday, the district says that number is now down to 50 countywide.
Staff says that, as of now, the district has hired 15 new drivers but has reduced the stated need by doubling the number of stops and adding return trips for current drivers — not just by hiring new ones.
Those extra return trips are required for high schoolers due to high attendance. But that workaround has a ripple effect on younger students.
“In the afternoon we obviously have to make two trips home, which then also impacts the elementaries and middle schools because the buses won’t get there until about 30 minutes after bell time before we can pick them up,” Wen said.
Wright says she knows what it would take to fix the problem.
“They’re gonna have to raise pay that families can live with,” she said.
Starting pay for OCPS bus drivers ranges from $18. 23 an hour, a full dollar less per hour than Seminole County and three dollars less than Volusia County.
Wen acknowledged the challenge, calling bus driving “a vocation that not very many people are going into.”
Contract and salary negotiations are still underway. Wright’s advice to parents heading into this school year: “Be prepared.”
Contract and salary negotiations for OCPS drivers are still underway. U.S. Congressman Darren Soto said he urges state legislators, who control driver salaries, to continue pushing pay upward.