Pasco County Schools offering pay incentives to attract more school bus drivers

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — Pasco County schools are in need of school bus drivers.

Dozens of bus routes do not have permanent coverage, meaning some students are showing up late to class. So now, Pasco County Schools is offering new incentives to get more drivers on board.

The district says it will pay drivers who have limited absences $500 per quarter. Those who take designated high-need routes will earn another $250 per quarter.

Behind the wheel of one Pasco County school bus, bus driver Lynn Zion-Weick has her eyes on the road.

“I’m pretty good with kids and I decided to give it a shot,” she said.

“The bus is so easy to drive. A lot of times that scares a person, you know, with such a big vehicle. But the way buses are now, they’re just like driving a nice car.”

Zion-Weick has been a bus driver here for the last four years. Originally retired, she wanted to get behind the wheel after seeing an ad for the role.

“I kept seeing it and kept thinking, ‘You know, I like to drive and they need drivers,’” said Zion-Weick. “So I said let me give it a shot. I think the hardest part of it was learning the engine. You had to learn at that time and the parts of the engine of the bus.”

But times have changed and so too has the need for school bus drivers in Pasco. Forty-nine of the district’s 297 bus routes do not have permanent coverage.

“Our goal is to ensure that every student gets to school on time so that learning can occur,” says Superintendent Dr. John Legg.

Legg says the school district has developed a plan, offering pay incentives to bring in more school bus drivers.

“If our bus drivers are in attendance and are able to drive the routes, they get a quarterly bonus,” said Legg. “And if they take on our more challenging routes, they get a bonus as well.”

Those challenging routes are the more remote areas of the county, such as Zephyrhills. But for someone who grew up in Port Richey, like Zion-Weick, driving the next generation of Pasco County students means a little more.

“It’s really, pretty nice because some of the kids, actually, I went to school with their grandparents,” she says. “More than likely grandparents.”

Pasco County Schools will be hosting a bus driver recruitment event on Dec. 11 in Land O’ Lakes.