School bus drivers are getting a raise in the new contract approved by the Jamestown School Board. The contract with the Jamestown Support Staff Association includes setting the hourly rate for bus drivers at $20 an hour.
The collective bargaining agreement runs from July 1st, 2021 until June 30th, 2025.
School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said there were good conversations and compromises, “So we recognized longevity in that contract. We recognized that the cost of living is going up so we made some concessions there and we were able to move forward with adjusting the bus driver starting salary so that it would be competitive in today’s environment.”
Whitaker said bus drivers will be guaranteed hours per week under the contract as well. He said while they are grateful for the drivers they have, the district is always looking for bus drivers, “Our head mechanic and our head transportation director drive a run. They pick up runs because we don’t quite have the drivers that we need in order for them to do their full time jobs full time. So the more folks that we can get involved, the more secure we are in our transportation of students throughout the day and throughout the year.”
Whitaker said at least 40 individuals have expressed interest with the increase in the hourly rate.
The school board also approved paying $7,000 in litigation fees related to the Small Cities Law Suit. Dr. Whitaker said the fee is for the proposal negotiated by the attorneys hired by the 8 school districts that has now been presented to New York State, “And that proposal is, they estimated how much extra we should have gotten per student in order to provide them with the appropriate, sound, basic education. So what they said was a certain dollar amount times the number of students in each of these districts is how much they should get each year over the course of the next six years.”
Whitaker said phase two of that proposal is the determination of how much extra funding the small cities school districts would receive each year on top of the annual foundation aid they are scheduled to receive. He added the timeline is unknown for when districts expect to hear the state’s response to this proposal.
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