A shortage of school bus drivers in Brevard County is leaving the district scrambling to fill the positions as more students pack onto fewer buses, causing them to sometimes be late for school and late getting home.

  • Brevard County Schools facing bus driver shortage
  • District looking to hire 50 substitute drivers
  • Go to the district's website for more information

The shortage is also forcing current drivers to take on more students than they are used to handling.

Each morning, Rene Carpenter starts her day by picking up dozens of children. She's a 10-year veteran bus driver with Brevard Public Schools. Recently, she said, the job has become a bit more stressful.

"We don't have the stand-by drivers right now to fill in for the regular drivers, and we are having to piece routes together," Carpenter said. "We just don't have the drivers to do it. We need more drivers."

When at full staff, the district has 360 permanent drivers and 50 substitute drivers. The district is currently looking to fill 50 sub positions.

"Whenever a bus doesn't have a sub to step right in, those routes have to be split up among the other existing busses in the area," said Arby Creach, director of transportation for the district. "It causes students to be late and it causes crowded conditions on the buses."

School officials don't typically like to put more than 45 students on a bus, but Creach said there have been as many as 55 students on buses because of split routes. He said the maximum legal load for most of the district’s buses is three per seat, for a total of 65 students.

"Recently, unfortunately, we had students that got home an hour and a half late from school because we had to split up a run, and that can be dramatic in a student's life — especially if they have an after-school job, an appointment or lessons to get to," Creach said.

The school district is hoping to see more people apply — and soon.

Carpenter said there needs to be more of a salary incentive to help attract new drivers.

"During the summer, we aren't compensated, so that does make it a little harder for people coming in," she said. "What do they do for those three months the kids are out? But I think absolutely, if it was a little bit more, you'd see more people. And more people would stay."

The starting wage for a full-time bus driver in Brevard County is $12.87 an hour. Orange County starts full-time drivers at $12.32 an hour and subs at $13.20 an hour. Permanent drivers, as well as subs, start at $11.18 an hour in Osceola County.

Some of the areas hit hardest by the lack of drivers in Brevard County are Cocoa Beach, Merritt Island and Melbourne.

To find out more about open positions with Brevard Public Schools, go to the district's website.