The issue of bus driver pay has been discussed and tabled more than once over the past few Muscogee County board meeting.

The board voted on the issue Friday, however, it wasn’t the outcome most were expecting. 

In a vote of seven to two, the school board appears to have settled the long debated issue of bus driver pay increase.

However, one driver was less than pleased about the final outcome.

Outgoing school board representative Frank Myers tells News 3 that he knew the board would vote the
way it did. 

“This is a rubber stamp school board. They do whatever the superintendent tells them to do,” Myers says as he expressed  how he felt after the school board voted on the issue of bus driver pay. 

“It wasn’t unexpected but it’s still disappointing,” he continued. 

After listening to one Muscogee County bus driver plead the case for higher hourly salaries, the board decided to give a referral bonus rather than a pay increase. 

“They’re not paying the drivers what they need to be paid.. all the bonuses and stuff is not going to work. They need to pay the drivers what the skill offers. They need to be paid $19 -20,” bus driver Russell Chambers says.

“The school board found a way to spend $500 and not address the problem which is driver shortages,” Myers says. 

But chambers says tonight’s vote falls short of what drivers deserve.

“It’s a dollar amount per hour, not the bonus. That’s not gonna attract drivers to come in. All it does is give them an opportunity to hold onto money and allocate it the way they want to allocate it,” Chambers said.

News 3 offered Muscogee County School District Transportation Director an opportunity  to provide 
comment after tonight’s vote but he was unavailable to be interviewed.