![]() What’s happening in Richmond County is not unique. “They can drive a dump truck, a tour bus, do long-distance hauling - just about anything else pays better than this.” “People are getting their CDLs, driving for a year or so, then going somewhere else,” said Brown. Though the school district is offering drivers extra financial incentives for perfect attendance and for referring new drivers, and free commercial driver’s license (CDL) training to new job applicants, “it’s still not a livable wage,” Brown said. And even after driving for 20 or 30 years, most drivers will earn a state pension of less than $500 per month. The hourly pay for bus drivers in Richmond starts at $13.86 and caps at $18.19, she said. “And they can’t keep drivers on staff because they’re not paying us enough,” said Brown, who earns $16 an hour. ![]() Richmond County bus driver Yolanda Brown says the school buses in its fleet, many of which are 15 to 20 years old, have frequent mechanical problems and break down “all day, every day.” (Credit: Yolanda Brown) The extra time that takes is making some students late to school every day, she said. Brown said their school system is currently short 40 to 50 drivers, and that the drivers they do have must take on additional staggered, combined routes to get students to and from school. The breakdowns of the aging school bus fleet - 67 of Richmond County’s 215 buses are 15 or more years old - are compounded by a shortage of bus drivers. “You get that fixed, and now the stop sign doesn’t work, or a headlight goes out. A 14-year driver for Richmond County Schools, she said many of the buses in the fleet are old, and break down mid-route or require repairs that take them out of service, “all day, every day.” That ranges from engine and transmission problems, to alternators, to overheating radiators, she said. Yolanda Brown is Stewart’s regular bus driver, and president of the Transport Workers’ Union Local 239 in Augusta. “Because, you know, I haven't eaten anything, and then our lunch is like halfway through the school day.” Doretha Stewart Mitchell with her daughter, Zhaqueline Stewart, a senior in Richmond County who says chronically late buses have made her late to school and impacted her grades. Then she’d feel progressively “tired and grouchy” as the day wore on. She’d rush to her math class, “and the important stuff, the instruction part, would be over,” she said. In either scenario, they’d get to school too late for the free breakfast. On some days, the bus would break down on the way to school and Stewart and her classmates had to wait on the side of the road for a mechanic or another bus to arrive. Stewart said her bus, scheduled to arrive at her stop at 6:30 a.m., routinely arrived 30 minutes late. Last year, she failed geometry, her first-period class. She’s been late to school so many times over the past two years, due to the late arrival of her school bus, that she said it has affected her grades. ![]() Zhaqueline Stewart, an 18-year-old senior at Westside High School in Richmond County, is saving up to study nursing at Augusta University by waiting tables at Waffle House after school.īut Stewart, a B-minus student, is worried she might not have enough credits to graduate. Part two focuses on the funding issues and potential solutions. This story is part one of a two-part investigation that looks at the state’s aging school buses, bus driver shortages and a decline in state funding of student transportation - a trifecta that is having a significant impact on the education of Georgia’s youth. ![]()
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