QUESTION: Is it true that the Alamance-Burlington school system is going to adopt a policy that requires teacher’s assistants and cafeteria workers to drive a school bus, and if they don’t then they can be fired?
ANSWER: School board members had been scheduled to vote on a proposed policy requiring teacher’s assistants and cafeteria workers – as well as other “classified employees,” whose positions don’t require state licensure and are typically paid an hourly wage – to drive a school bus in order to address ongoing driver shortages that ABSS and school systems across the state and nation have struggled with for years.
That policy was originally included as part of the “consent agenda” – which consists of noncontroversial items that are approved en bloc – for the school board’s meeting on April 28.
However, the so-called dual employment policy was removed from the agenda altogether shortly before that evening’s school board meeting.
The Alamance News has been told that the item was pulled so that the administration could continue to gather more information prior to seeking school board approval.
School officials subsequently said that, while an exact date hasn’t been set, the proposed dual employment policy will likely be presented for further consideration at an upcoming school board meeting.
The proposed dual employment policy would require ABSS classified employees to become licensed to drive a bus and to perform duties of a bus driver as a condition of their employment.
ABSS human resources director Yolanda Anderson told the board that the policy would initially apply to newly-hired classified employees. It would be up to the superintendent to determine whether existing ABSS classified employees would also be required to obtain a commercial driver’s license and a School Bus Driver Certificate, or whether they could be exempted from the requirement, she said.
State law currently requires prospective school bus drivers to complete a class and behind-the-wheel training; pass up to four different CDL knowledge tests with a score of 80 percent or better on each test exam; pass “all skills testing to federal motor carrier requirements”; acquire a U.S. Department of Transportation medical exam from a federal motor carrier certified medical examiner†to be considered competent to operate a school bus; and pass a mandatory drug test.
Prospective school bus drivers also must pay a fee for a CDL class (online or in-person) – which varies according to where the class is taken – as well as a $51.50 application fee for “each three attempts of knowledge tests,” according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
ABSS currently has 120 school bus drivers, which includes 49 certified employees (such as teachers) and classified employees who are driving a school bus, in addition to their primary positions, Anderson told the newspaper after the work session. ABSS had 32 vacant bus driver positions at the time, she said.
In addition to addressing ongoing school bus driver shortages, Anderson said that implementation of the policy would reduce the number of existing bus drivers who have to drive multiple routes, as well as minimize the amount of instructional time that students lose when their buses arrive to school late.
Other NC school systems require classified employees to drive a bus
Superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming said during the work session that dual employment policies such as the one being contemplated for ABSS are “quite extensive throughout North Carolina.”
“Adding this is really killing two birds with one stone is the best way I can describe it,” Fleming said.
“I haven’t seen where it affected any other school district,” Fleming said during last month’s work session. “I don’t think it would be any different for us. We already have vacancies without having to drive a bus.”
ABSS officials said that other N.C. school systems requiring their classified employees to drive a bus include: Chatham County schools; Edenton-Chowan schools; Harnett County schools; Hoke County schools; Iredell-Statesville schools; Person County schools; the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District; Rowan-Salisbury schools; and Wake County schools.
“This policy, if adopted, can help ABSS compete for classified employees by attracting individuals interested in gaining new skills and responsibilities, such as obtaining a CDL, which broadens their skill set and diversifies their professional capabilities,” school officials told the newspaper late last month. “Additionally, this policy would allow employees to avoid seeking secondary employment outside the district.”
The administration indicated during the earlier discussion that classified employees would be reimbursed for the costs of obtaining a CDL and School Bus Driver Certificate.
“If they decide to leave, then we’re out of the money, correct?” asked school board member Avery Wagoner.
“Right,” said Anderson.
Affected employees would clock out from one job and in for another
ABSS classified employees would get paid at the hourly rate for the position they are performing, Anderson subsequently told the newspaper. A teacher’s assistant would clock out from his or her TA job and clock in to drive a bus, and the two positions are paid at rates that vary widely, she explained.
For example, the monthly salary for a TA ranges from a minimum of $2,600 to a maximum of $4,852 per month, based on the latest salary schedules published by the State Board of Education (SBE) for the current, 2024-25 fiscal year, which are based on a 40-hour work week and are part of the state salary schedules included in the state budget passed by the General Assembly.
By comparison, the monthly salary for a bus driver ranges from a minimum of $2,600 to a maximum of $4,852 per month – providing they work a 40-hour week, based on the state’s salary schedules.
Other classified employees who could be required to drive a bus include: office support; student information data managers; transportation safety assistants, mechanics, and supervisors; school nutrition assistants, site managers, and supervisors; distance learning instructional assistants; interpreters; school health assistants; therapeutic recreation specialists; and vocational technical assistants.
Earlier efforts to boost pay and reduce bus driver shortages
School board members adopted new pay ranges in 2017 and 2019 that had been intended to boost pay rates for classified employees – in particular, school bus drivers who have historically been among the lowest-paid employees in ABSS.
An initial change adopted in August 2017 had been intended to address what ABSS officials termed “compression,” referring to classified employees who had remained at the same pay rate for years. At the time, then-school board member Patsy Simpson asked rhetorically, “Who in the world is going to get a job where you work 35 years and get $1.29 [more per hour than when you started]?”
Meanwhile, ABSS increased its hourly pay rates for bus drivers during each of four consecutive years, starting in 2015-26, when the hourly pay for a new bus driver with no experience was $11.61 per hour. By 2019-20, the hourly rate for a new bus driver with no experience was $12.75 per hour, according to ABSS. The General Assembly later increased the minimum wage for state employees, including public school employees, to $15 per hour in 2018.
The school board later adopted a classified pay study in February 2019 that ABSS officials believed would reduce turnover among classified employees and make it easier to recruit new ones. ABSS officials have since confirmed for the newspaper that the classified pay study was never fully implemented. The first of several planned phases of implementation took effect for the 2019-20 fiscal year.
However, ABSS has continued to struggle with school bus driver shortages, despite offering additional financial incentives such as a $1,000 signing bonus; a $50 monthly bonus for perfect work attendance; providing “extra duty” pay for existing school employees who agree to drive a bus; and raising hourly pay rates – all measures approved in 2021.
Subsequent data from the state Department of Instruction (DPI) reveals that 8,348 students (or 38.2 percent of the 21,833 students enrolled) in ABSS had ridden a bus to and from school during the 2023-24 school year, the latest period for which the figures are available. The cost per bus was $43,946.46; per student, $718.07; and the cost per mile was $3.32 to provide school bus transportation for ABSS students in 2023-24, the most recent period for which those costs are available from DPI.
