CHARLESTON, S.C/ (AP) - A South Carolina school district’s top choice to run school buses next year wants to pay drivers as much as $20.50 an hour.
But The Post and Courier reports that the Charleston district’s decision could come at a higher price.
The district passed over longtime bus vendor Durham School Services when it announced plans to award a new, one-year bus contract to First Student Inc.
The contract is for around $24.7 million - a bid about $1.5 million higher than Durham’s.
Board member Kevin Hollinshead has voiced disapproval of the district’s choice. He noted reports that First Student’s parent company may sell its bus operations.
“I just don’t think they vetted it right. They didn’t do any research on the company that they picked,” Hollinshead said. “If they sell off the assets to somebody else … you don’t know if things are going to change. You don’t know who is going to be running the company.”
Although First Student’s bid was more expensive, it was selected as the “best value” option.
Durham has partnered with the school district since 2007 but its service has faced community scrutiny over late buses and poor communication amid an ongoing bus driver shortage.
According to documents obtained by The Post and Courier, First Student offered to pay some of its drivers a starting hourly wage of either $20.50 or $18.50 with a minimum 2.5 percent annual increase. Durham offered to pay its drivers a starting rate of $16 with a 2 percent annual increase.
Hollinshead said that even First Student’s hourly rate wouldn’t be enough to solve the driver shortage, adding, “You have to pay the drivers $25 an hour if you’re going to retain them.”
Durham’s starting wage for its Charleston bus drivers currently is $15 an hour, Durham spokesman Ed Flavin said.
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