FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – Bus drivers in Florence School District One will soon get a75 cents per hour raise.
Recently, the Florence School District One Board of Trustees voted to increase the current wage.
“Since 2004, there’s only been basically 44 cent per hour raise. They’ve been working long hours trying to get the routes covered. Having to double up, triple up things like that,” said Bill Kurts, Transportation Coordinator.According to Kurts, that 44 cents was stretched out over of the course a decade.
“We do offer healthcare which was a big incentive, but once that national healthcare system went into place we basically lost our edge as a recruiting tool with that,” Kurts mentioned.
Drivers will see at least an extra $1,000 a year, based on a 40 hour work week, with the pay increase.
With the boost in pay also comes a boost in morale.
“It changed it tremendously,” Kurts stated.
News13 looked at the pay compared to surrounding districts in the area.
With the raise Florence One’s rate goes up from $10.27 per hour to $11.02.
Currently, Florence School District Two pays its drivers $11 per hour.
The Darlington County School District is not too far behind. The district pays its drivers $10.75 per hour with no experience and as high as $15.50 with experience.
However, Florence School District Five is one the lowest. It pays its drivers $9.13 per hour with no experience but that number climbs to as high as $13.17 per hour for those with over 25 years’ experience.
Drivers in both Darlington County and Florence School District 3 also received a pay increases recently.
For Florence One those raises went into effect immediately.
