ST. LOUIS — As they wait for Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to sign off on next year’s education budget, school districts across the state are already planning on how to use additional funding passed by legislators.
However, those additional dollars for transportation costs and to increase teachers’ pay may not stretch as far as needed.
For the first time since 1991, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will fund the full 75% maximum of transportation costs for school districts. But, this one time reimbursement cannot be used for recurring expenses such as increasing bus driver pay, according to several St. Louis area school districts Spectrum News contacted.
Festus R-VI School District is expected to receive $300,000 for transportation costs for next school year and Communications Coordinator Kevin Pope said the funds will be used to purchase new buses and/or district vehicles.
Since it is unknown if they will receive the same amount in the future, Pope said the district is looking at other ways to increase bus drivers’ pay to help combat the driver shortage that most school districts are experiencing.
Warren County R-III School District Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith said he is thankful for the additional transportation funding.
“This will help us get caught back up a little bit and not (have) to deficit spend as much next year in transportation particularly,” he said.
Due to the bus driver shortage, the district had already planned to increase wages to keep drivers regardless of the transportation funding. Klinginsmith said they are 15-20 % short on drivers for routes, however, he says “we make it work every day.”
He added that everybody who can drive is driving, including the assistant superintendent, mechanics, and the director of transportation.
“We’re short quite a bit, but we do everything we can to make it work,” Klinginsmith said.
Parkway School District Chief Financial Officer Patty Bedborough said it is hard to plan for the expected transportation money because it cannot be built into salaries and recurring costs, but “certainly it’s helpful to cover the expenses.”
Bedborough added the district created a transportation task force where parents and administrators are looking at possible changes for next school year to help solve the bus driver shortage.
Some of those possibilities include changing the salary scale to attract and retain drivers, and changing its walk distance for some students.
The one time funding also applies to the teacher pay increase for new hires. If school districts currently pay new teachers under $38,000, they can apply for grants that would raise their salaries only for the 2022-23 school year. The grant is a 70/30 match, where the state would pay 70% and the district would pay 30%.
Districts such as Warren County would be eligible to apply for those grants once they become available, but once those funds are gone, Klinginsmith said his district would revert back to their previous salary schedules.