As a bus driver for the Peoria Unified School District during the past eight years, three of which spent as a trainer, Andria Isler has seen a lot of drivers come and go.
She has seen drivers evicted from their homes, their cars repossessed and watched as they struggled to put food on the table for their children because they don’t make a living wage. As a district graduate, she remembers a time when Peoria Unified was the best district, a time when everyone wanted to work there.
She said she sees the good in the district, but is hard pressed to get any bus drivers to apply to work for PUSD these days, causing a shortage in drivers that has affected drop-off and pick-up times and overworked operators.
All classified employees in the district’s transportation department face financial hardship, Isler said.
“Our wages are disgraceful,” she said. “You can ask most of the employees in our department. We love our jobs. We are here for the children. It is so rewarding to know that we make a difference in kids daily lives. And it saddens me specifically because we go above and beyond for the kids, right? But we can’t even support our own kids at home. It’s time that we do something because if we don’t, we are going to lose a lot more drivers. And the people who are going to suffer are the poor kids. The ones that we love being here for every day.”
Since fiscal year 2019, PUSD has seen a 27% increase of resignations in classified staff, or non-teaching positions.
The district’s transportation division has been among the hardest hit. During the past year, PUSD lost nearly 35% of its drivers, causing them to make double runs and use non-bus vehicles for pickups and drop offs.
And it appears those circumstances aren’t likely to change anytime soon — the district recently canceled 10 bus routes throughout the district over two days, with delays and cancellations expected in the future.
Although they receive benefits, PUSD drivers are among the worst paid at $13.99 an hour compared with surrounding districts where the average pay is about $17.50.
Add to that the costs required to become a bus driver — an Arizona IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card, as well as obtain and maintain a valid Arizona CDL, ‘Class B’ driver license with passenger endorsement.
A valid Identity Verified Print clearance card confirms an applicant’s criminal history and a ‘Class B’ CDL — a commercial driver’s license — allows for the operation of a large, heavy, vehicle that isn’t hitched to a trailer, such as a school bus.
PUSD officials say they will assist with these needs, but because of these costs and low wages, PUSD school bus driver trainer Iwona Jung said many do not pursue bus driving.
“I am a school bus driver and trainer, but I have not been training people because people are not applying and we have not been hiring,” she said.
Competition
Industry competition also has put PUSD at a disadvantage when trying to hire and retain drivers.
Long-haul trucking companies have been experiencing a shortfall of employees since before the pandemic and have been offering signing bonuses in the thousands to lure fresh faces into its ranks.
CFO Michelle Myers said now those companies are targeting public school district drivers.
“This is a national issue. They are offering signing bonuses that are contributing to the shortage that all districts are facing,” she said. “It has become clear that a critical level of concern is being reached for several staffing areas in PUSD, including bus drivers.”
Stipend
Because of staffing shortages and employee turnover today, the governing board, Sept. 9, approved a $1,500 retention and recruiting stipend to all returning staff from fiscal year 2021 and new staff hired on or after July 1.
In addition, bus drivers received an extra $250 for a total of $1,750.
Jung said she supported the stipend, but it’s only a starting point.
She said from 1996 to 2015, the average bus driver worked at PUSD for seven years and from 2016 to 2018, the average was one year. Currently, that number is four months.
She added other districts also offer perks and incentives that PUSD does not, such as compensated stays in hotels for overnight field trips.
“So how safe is this for our children, our students? If we need time to build relationships with students, to build discipline, to drive buses on the streets, and the average school bus driver only stays four months. I believe this is not safe for students,” she said. “As a trainer, I make $1,600 a month and my rent is $1,400. So my question is: how can the district expect people to work for us if we cannot afford a basic living?”
Isler also said the stipend is a move in the right direction, but real change could come in the form of wage raises that are competitive with other districts.
“The day we see those wages rise, we can start recruiting and building up our department like it used to be so many years ago. We can be that district everyone wants to work for and have a waiting list because so many people are waiting to work for Peoria Unified,” she said.
Override failures
A series of failed district overrides has put wages at a competitive disadvantage, some in the district say.
The district’s current 13% maintenance and operations override funds people and programs, such as teacher and counselor salaries, bus drivers and K-12 kindergarten, to name a few.
PUSD asked voters to approve a 15% override in 2019, which would have put the district on par with other Valley school districts. The attempt failed by 133 votes.
Peoria Education Association Vice President Frank Eager said the failed overrides have hindered classified employees like bus drivers from receiving competitive wages.
As a product of the district and after 25 years of service to PUSD, Eager said as a teacher he has received offers from other districts and could have left years ago, but his family is here and he appreciates what the district does, so he has stayed.
“I have been frozen so many times over the years, the classified and certified have been frozen so many times as well,” he said. “You want to talk about masks, not masks, quarantines, whatever — it is a hard time to work in public schools, and classified staff like bus drivers matter.”
‘Finite resources’
PUSD spokeswoman Danielle Airey said hyper competition, failed overrides, classified staff being left off Gov. Doug Ducey’s 20x2020 initiative during the Red for Ed movement in 2018, and other challenges have made it very difficult for the district to offer competitive wages.
She said the public sector is hurting — school districts can’t keep up and directly compete with the private sector.
The district has made incremental wage increases for classified staff over the years, including a 3% raise for all employee groups that was part of the fiscal year 2022 budget.
She added that the budget team will look into including more competitive rates for bus drivers in the next fiscal year.
However, she said, the rest of the year will have challenges.
“Our resources are pretty finite and every year our budget team is always looking at the same pie and how we allocate the pie under certain requirements,” Airey said.
There are 125 school bus routes throughout the district and if all 93 drivers show up, the district is still short-handed.
To deal with this, the district has condensed routes, made less stops and freed up some time to decrease delays. Airey said schools are getting creative to help those students affected by the shortage, such as opening doors early for families to drop off children when they can and keeping food service staff on standby for those students who may need a meal.
But if one driver calls out, that impacts all the routes, she said.
“The hope is that students don’t miss school, but there is that is potential,” Airey said. “We want nothing more than to get children to school and we are going to support those kids the best we can. But we simply don’t have enough drivers to cover all routes.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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