COLUMBIA, S.C. — As nearly half of South Carolina's public school students depend on buses for their daily commute, school districts are facing a critical shortage of drivers.
In response, state lawmakers are exploring an unconventional solution by considering retired state employees to fill the gap.
Amid this shortage, individuals like 70-year-old Charles Sparrow are stepping into the driver's seat, quite literally. Sparrow, currently undergoing training to become a school bus driver for Richland One School District, brings a wealth of experience to the role.
"In the Army, I drove buses. For more than 10 years, I drove buses, 60 passenger buses," Sparrow shared.
Now he is on a new mission– responding to Richland One School District's call for bus drivers.
“The kids being safe and being transported safely is of utmost priority in my opinion,” said Sparrow. “I always had a love for it. But over the past years, the benefits just weren’t there to go into the school bus driving industry.”
While individuals like Sparrow embrace the opportunity, school districts across the state are struggling to hire employees like him.
“Here at our lot, we’re roughly short about 20 drivers,” said Eric Eaddy, the area supervisor for the Lower Richland Student Transportation site.
According to Eaddy, the district has raised starting pay to $16 an hour, started offering signing bonuses, and is advertising on billboards and television in hopes of recruiting employees.
"Unfortunately, hiring is not a fast process for bus drivers because of all the rules and regulations they have to go through, but we are actively still searching to fill those positions," Eaddy explained.
To steer the shortage in the right direction, lawmakers are considering a pension incentive. A proposed bill aims to exempt state retirees who become bus drivers from a state law that halts yearly pension payments once their new job earnings exceed $10,000.
"We have drivers right now who are at home just waiting to come back into 24. And if we didn't have those caps, we’d be able to have them working today to fill some of those short positions," Eaddy added.
To further entice prospective bus drivers, the State Department of Education is seeking a $10 million allocation in the next budget. This funding would be used to provide $2,500 retention bonuses to school bus drivers who commit to staying on the job for the entire school year.
"I’ll take it. Anything above and beyond the call of duty I’ll take," chuckled Sparrow.
The proposed legislation addressing pension incentives and retention bonuses is expected to be taken up when lawmakers reconvene in January.
Lawmakers have previously passed similar exemptions for state law enforcement and teaching retirees.