INVERNESS, Fla. — The school bus driver shortage has been a constant challenge for school districts throughout the state of Florida.

Too few bus drivers behind the wheel across the Tampa Bay area has resulted in drivers working significant overtime, students getting to classes late and transportation planners eliminating routes.

What You Need To Know

  • The Citrus County School Board recently approved a raise of more than $3 for bus drivers per hour, which brings the hourly wage to $20.09 – one of the highest salaries for school bus drivers in Florida
  • The district credits a higher salary coupled with the new Transportation Progressive Discipline Matrix for the enthusiasm surrounding school bus driver candidates and new trainees

  • A new bus behavior matrix includes a list of violations that are divided into two categories – basic and severe infractions. Basic infractions can include things like not following driver instructions, being too loud or yelling and rough housing. Severe infractions can include profanity, fighting and harassment

“I think the last year kind of broke everybody’s back,” said Kathy Little-Green, who trains new school bus drivers and serves as the program training leader for the Citrus County School District. “Drivers were doing triples and weren’t getting kids to school until 10 a.m.”

The school board recently approved a raise of more than $3 per hour for drivers, which brings the hourly wage to $20.09 – one of the highest salaries for school bus drivers in Florida.

“The salary is one piece, but I believe this discipline matrix is a second piece,” said Scott Hebert, assistant superintendent for the Citrus County School District.

“We’re hearing a lot of positive feedback and people reaching out and saying, ‘I’m interested in doing this.’ We actually had folks that were going to retire and opted not to retire because of some of the changes that we put in place for our transportation department. We are fully staffed at this point and we’re getting even more interest, so we’re super excited about that and looking forward to a great beginning to the new school year."

Linda Varonich, 70, a new hire who just completed the school bus driver training this summer, hopes to be a good, positive role model for the kids and ensure they have an enjoyable ride on the bus.

“I appreciate this effective two-part approach, and we’ve come a long way over the past couple months with the pay increase and the behavior matrix,” said Varonich, who also worked as guardian ad litem for foster children prior to her new transportation job with the district.

Parents and students must agree to the new rules revolving around the Transportation Progressive Discipline Matrix for access to the school bus.

There’s a long list of violations that are divided into two categories – basic and severe. Basic infractions can include things like not following driver instructions, being too loud or yelling and rough housing. Severe infractions can include profanity, fighting and harassment.

The penalties vary based on the age and grade of the child, but all consequences can result in suspensions and a loss of bus privileges.

For instance, the first violation of a basic infraction leads to a one-day suspension from the school bus.

The penalties escalate for each offense up to a total loss of bus privileges. And for severe infractions, the initial penalty is even stiffer, and students can rack up suspensions and lose bus privileges quicker.

Little-Green has been training school bus drivers in Citrus County since 2016. She said the new discipline matrix is necessary to minimize driver distractions and prevent accidents with as many as 60 kids onboard.

“Learning to drive a bus is the easy part, but the hard part is doing it with kids,” Little-Green added. “The kids are so distracting, and you can be the best driver in the world, but when you have kids doing what they’re doing, it doesn’t mix.”

The Citrus County School District is in the process of educating parents and students on the new transportation policy.