When Spring ISD voters approved a $330 million bond referendum in 2016, they sanctioned the purchase of 60 new buses, and now the district must hire 60 more drivers to staff the vehicles before the start of the next school year. “In order to get those drivers ready we need to start recruiting and hiring now, so that we can address training needs that there may be,” said Keith Kaup, director of transportation for SISD. The district currently employs 221 bus drivers. The positions are part-time with benefits and the salary starts at $15.12 per hour, he said. Although the bond referendum provides $6 million to purchase the buses, ongoing maintenance and the salaries of the drivers will become part of the district’s regular maintenance and operations budget. An estimate for those costs had not yet been prepared in January. The new buses will serve 60 new bus routes, which are the result of expanding the district’s busing service area to include students who previously did not live within the district’s busing radius. Previously, students who lived 1.5 miles or more from their school buildings were bused. The expanded routes will shrink that radius and extend busing service to an additional 5,000 students who live at least 1 mile away from their schools. In addition to acquiring a state license to drive a school bus, drivers must take behind-the-wheel training, pass a road test and a Department of Public Safety test. Depending on the individual trainee and the availability of testing, the process can take three weeks to 90 days, Kaup said. DPS tests are administrated at only four locations in the Greater Houston area, but are also used by districts outside of the area. The district’s goal is to hire the needed drivers by the end of the school year so they are trained and ready to start work at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, Kaup said. The new bus routes must be launched all at once, because changes in existing routes are structured to coincide with the implementation of new routes. Phasing the routes in gradually would mean restructuring multiple routes each time a new one is introduced. “It would be difficult to phase in an implementation,” SISD Chief Operations Office Mark Miranda said. “It’s almost an all or nothing equation.” Kaup said the most important thing prospective bus drivers must consider when applying for the jobs is the important role they will play in the safety of students. Additionally, bus drivers can affect a student’s day-to-day performance. “The school bus driver must understand the impact that they have on their students, that they set the tone for the student’s day and they have the ability to really influence how that child is going to succeed in their education,” Kaup said. The district’s recruitment campaign is underway, including a transportation job fair from 9 a.m.-noon on Feb. 23 at the transportation center, 341 East Richey Road, Houston. Applicants can visit www.springisd.net for more information.