Activity and field trip bus drivers will get big boost in pay

After a lengthy discussion about the current bus driver recruitment and pay situation, the Decorah Community School Board approved a $5 per hour pay increase, effective February 1, for activity and field trip drivers. Drivers currently receive $11.15 per hour, one of the lowest in the area. Cresco recently jumped their rate to $20 per hour.

This will cost about an additional $14,000 this year.

Although there was consensus that there needed to be a raise in order to make those routes attractive enough for drivers to be interested, there was much discussion about others barriers to driver recruitment. A driving factor in the vote was recognition that the district is currently short on drivers, and that the hefty schedule of upcoming events in  April and May might face a lack of drivers. One bus driver who was present said the current wage was simply not enough incentive for current drivers to find trips attractive to add into their schedules, but that a $5 increase would definitely help.

Brian Petersburg was the lone dissenting vote, but not because he was against the raise. He contended that the issue had not been fully researched and thought any raise should be part of a larger discussion and plan to address the wages, recruitment and incentive issues related to the challenges facing the district in regard to bus drivers. The motion that passed also called for the board to engage in much broader discussion and action.