After about eight months of ramping up recruiting efforts, Frisco ISD has filled its bus driver vacancies that had caused a bus driver shortage in the past year.

FISD transportation hiring manager Paul Russo said at the start of the 2017-18 school year the transportation department was short 30 drivers. As of March, all of those vacancies had been filled.

“It’s really put me at ease,” Russo said. “We’ve opened a couple more positions because we now have the opportunity to alleviate some of the overcrowding on some of the buses. But now we’re caught up, and we’re working on our numbers for next year.”

FISD will be opening four new schools next year: Talley Elementary School, Liscano Elementary School, Lawler Middle School and Memorial High School. Russo said the district will need to hire another 25 drivers to start the year.

“So we’re not stopping, and we’re working now to fill positions for next year,” Russo said.

Russo said FISD will continue its recruiting efforts from this year to fill those additional positions.

At the start of the school year, the transportation department created a recruiting committee to brainstorm recruitment initiatives.

Some of the recruiting efforts included job fairs, advertising and social media outreach. But the two methods that helped the most have been increasing pay and FISD becoming a third-party site for commercial driver license, or CDL, testing.

FISD board trustees approved a starting pay increase for bus drivers from $15.63 to $16.63 per hour. The pay increase went into effect Nov. 1.

Starting in January, FISD became a third-party testing site for CDL testing at the district level.

“This made such a big difference and helped reduce the wait time for a driver to get their CDL from six to eight weeks to one week,” Transportation Director Doug Becker said. “Not only did we train potential drivers, but this helped train all of our coaches to get their CDL.”

The bus driver shortage has not only been an issue for FISD but also for surrounding school districts.

“As the economy changes, jobs like these are a little bit more difficult to keep filled,” Becker said.

This has also been a national issue affecting schools across the country. A national survey from the trade publication School Bus Fleet reported last summer that nearly 25 percent of respondents viewed the shortages as “severe.”

Becker said when the economy is better there are more jobs in the market, which makes service jobs, such as bus drivers, more difficult to fill.

Surrounding school districts have also increased recruiting efforts to either combat the shortage or prevent it from happening. Many of the school districts have also increased pay for bus drivers or have offered employee referral bonuses or other incentives.

In December, Allen ISD school board increased the starting wage for bus drivers by $1.50 after experiencing a shortage in the fall semester.

In addition, AISD also implemented a bonus for drivers with perfect attendance.

Lewisville ISD has experienced shortages in bus drivers in years past. But because of recruiting efforts implemented at the end of last school year, the district has not seen shortage this year.

“Due to wage increases that were enacted at the end of last year, drivers were able to quickly be recruited, and staffing levels have been maintained accordingly throughout the year,” LISD’s Chief Communications Officer Amanda Brim said. “In addition to wage increases, LISD, in collaboration with its contracted student transportation provider, First Student, continuously evaluates routes to achieve even greater efficiencies, in an effort to maximize personnel and resources.”

Prosper ISD has also experienced shortages. The district’s spokesperson, Christal Hankey, said it is just a result of the market.

“[PISD] has experienced bus driver shortages to some degree, but not detrimental to the operation,” Hankey said. “This is normal in the transportation world, especially when the economy is on the upswing.”

According to McKinney ISD, the school district has not experienced a shortage, but the district has implemented preventative measures.

“We have not experienced a shortage, but we have gone into each year hiring additional drivers than normal knowing it would be a challenge keeping them,” MISD spokesperson Cody Cunningham said in an email. “We also increased our pay, and that has helped create more stability.”

Cassidy Ritter contributed to this story.