Bus drivers working for Tucson Unified School District will now be the highest paid in Pima County for that job, according to information provided by district administrators.
The TUSD governing board voted to set bus drivers’ starting salaries at $18.41, more than a 2-dollar increase from the current entry rate of $16.16. The average entry rate for bus drivers throughout the Tucson metro area is $17.43.
The measure approved unanimously Tuesday by the board also includes a 2% pay increase for all employees, including teachers, due to new negotiations with the Tucson Education Association.
Watch now: Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo mentions the three salary adjustments that the board approved at the Nov. 15 meeting. Video courtesy of the Tucson Unified School District.
A compression adjustment on a sliding scale for classified staff is also included. Compression refers to employees who are paid similar wages despite differences in years of experience and skills.
The overall compensation issue was first brought to the board during the district’s Oct. 25 meeting, in which Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo noted that about 800 classified employees were earning less than $14.
“If you would have left the 800 employees continuing to make that low wage in this time of historic inflation, in my opinion, we would not be looking out for our employees to the best of our ability,” Trujillo said at the time.
The overall measure will cost the district about $11.5 million per year, said Ricky Hernandez, TUSD’s chief financial officer.
Incoming TUSD bus drivers will receive the new hourly rate as soon as they complete their certifications.
Until now, in the midst of a bus driver shortage, TUSD bus drivers were among the lowest paid in Pima County. Hourly rates among school districts ranged from $16.00 to $18.20, according to TUSD.
“Hopefully, now we’ll see a significant influx of bus driver applicants looking to fill all of the positions, so we can reach that goal we have of restoring all of our neighborhood routes to kick off next school year,” Trujillo said during a media briefing Wednesday.
Other employees receiving salary increases and compression adjustments will receive one-time payments in February 2023, retroactive to July 1. Their following paychecks will then reflect the changes to their compensation.
Trujillo said many hourly wages in the district became compressed after the governing board voted to increase the minimum wage for classified staff to $15 earlier this year.
“This essentially solves a compression issue for the immediate future, for the foreseeable future,” Hernandez said.
