Pierce County school bus drivers will be getting a raise effective immediately.
The Pierce County Board of Education approved raising bus driver pay to $19 per hour.
The raise was approved at the school board’s monthly work session last Thursday morning. The new pay raise went into effect Monday.
The raise will apply to all bus drivers and will cost the system just over $50,000.
Finance Director Melanie Helms later told The Times there is money in this year’s budget to fund the raises.
While bus drivers have received small raises the last two school years, this is a much more substantial increase.
School superintendent Dara Bennett and School Board Chairman Duward Boatright both agreed the raises should help the system to fill driver vacancies.
“We think it will be an incentive for recruiting new drivers and retaining our current drivers,” Bennett said.
