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Bus drivers for the local school district are pressing the school board to offer them competitive pay and benefits in order to end an ongoing driver shortage.
Frustrated both by their compensation and the district’s recent move to bring in out-of-state drivers to fill the shortage, they are warning that more drivers could leave for jobs in nearby districts.
About 10-12 school bus drivers have retired or resigned from Maine School Administrative District 75, which includes Harpswell, since the beginning of 2026. To make sure students could get to and from schools, the district consolidated bus routes, enlisted employees working in other roles, and hired contract drivers.
Several drivers organized to attend the MSAD 75 Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 10. They told the school board that its challenges with driver retention and recruitment stem from low wages and a lack of benefits.
Under their current contract, MSAD 75 drivers hired after July 1 of this year would start at about $27 per hour. The Brunswick School Department pays $31 per hour. MSAD 75 Transportation Director Tom Kane told an Aug. 13 school board meeting that drivers in Lisbon start at $30 and drivers for Hudson Bus Lines, which serves Lewiston schools, start at $31.
As town employees, Brunswick bus drivers are eligible to enroll in the Maine Public Employees Retirement System and receive contributions from the town. MSAD 75 drivers may open a 403(b) retirement account and make pretax contributions themselves, but the district does not contribute to their accounts. Some MSAD 75 support staff — a category that includes drivers, paraprofessionals, cooks and custodians — do receive retirement contributions.
“The school board must increase wages and benefits,” driver Belinda Rossignol, who drives routes on Orr’s and Bailey islands, told the board. Rossignol, of Bowdoinham, has been driving for MSAD 75 for 28 years.
Hutson Hayward, chair of the school board, said the shortage of bus drivers reflects a local and national trend. The district has had fewer drivers than it needs at other times in recent years, but has been able to hire new drivers or find other ways to cover bus routes. In hindsight, he said, it is clear that the district did not adequately prepare for this school year.
Hayward said that MSAD 75 Superintendent Heidi O’Leary learned about anticipated driver departures this past winter from conversations with the Merrymeeting Employees Association, the union that represents support staff. O’Leary presented the board with a plan to recruit drivers, which included a $1,500 bonus to new drivers and a $500 bonus to current drivers who refer a new hire. She first alerted parents to the potential shortage in June, asking for their help to ensure bus routes are efficient.
“Addressing driver shortages has been an ongoing priority for nearly a year in anticipation of upcoming retirements,” O’Leary told the Anchor.
Hayward became chair of the school board’s Transportation Committee on July 1, at which time he said more drivers had retired and hiring was not happening fast enough. He said he asked O’Leary for an update on the situation, and they decided to continue focusing on efforts to hire drivers locally while exploring other options.
On Aug. 13, O’Leary informed the Transportation Committee that the district was still short eight bus drivers. The committee suggested a special school board meeting to discuss contracting short-term drivers.
“I acknowledge it was late to make decisions, but we were trying to hire people to be part of a permanent team,” Hayward said. “All effort was behind that.”
Three more drivers resigned after Aug. 17, according to O’Leary.
On Aug. 24, the school board unanimously approved a contract with the sole bidder, First Student Inc., an Ohio-based corporation with more than 65,000 employees. The district is paying First Student for four drivers through June at a cost of $996 per day, per driver, for a total of $637,000. The contract includes accommodations for the drivers, who live out of state and return home on weekends.
Rossignol said that based on conversations she and others have had with the contract drivers, they are making $36 an hour, about $6 more than her wage, the maximum for bus drivers in MSAD 75.
District Business Manager Evan Howard told the board on Aug. 24 that the district would pay for the contract by drawing on funds budgeted for fuel, workers’ compensation, paraprofessionals and a bus the district decided not to buy. It is also using money saved when staff retired.
Some MSAD 75 employees are doing double duty to keep the buses running. A mechanic and a cook both drive routes now in addition to their primary jobs.
O’Leary shared news of the contract and other information about the district’s efforts to fill the driver shortfall in an Aug. 26 message to parents. She also pointed out that driver shortages are happening across Maine and the U.S., citing a report in the Bangor Daily News that there were 80 open driver jobs in Maine at the beginning of the last school year.
At the Sept. 10 school board meeting, former board member Jim Trusiani, of Brunswick, asserted that the contract with First Student was inappropriately done through an emergency process.
“You should have anticipated the issues and acted sooner,” he told the board.
“We totally disagree,” O’Leary told the Anchor. She said the district consulted lawyers to ensure the bid process was appropriate and legal. She said “factors outside our control” led to the current situation.
School bus drivers must have a commercial driver’s license. Obtaining one can take between five months and a year, driver Al Look, of Richmond, told the board. Look drives a route on Harpswell Neck.
District officials said they have one or two drivers in their training pipeline who could be licensed and ready to drive in October.
Drivers think increasing wages and benefits are the best ways to attract and keep drivers.
“It’s no wonder we have people dropping like flies and don’t have a line out the door,” said Amanda Conant, a driver for eight years.
Conant and Rossignol said that several of the people who left MSAD 75 this spring went to the Brunswick School Department for better wages and benefits. Rossignol said she knows of another driver who may resign this fall to look for a higher-paying job.
“I don’t make enough money for retirement,” Connie Lailer, a driver of 18 years with a route in Bowdoinham, told the school board.
“I need a retirement,” Conant said. “You’d think that, working for a school, that would be automatic.”
She said she wasn’t sure if she could stay in her job without retirement benefits.
Erin Scott, a paraprofessional at Woodside Elementary School and president of the Merrymeeting Employees Association, said the union is planning to negotiate changes when the contract expires in June.
“We agree that our bus drivers are underpaid compared to other districts in the area and we hope to rectify that in the upcoming negotiations,” Scott said. “The union shares the frustration with the bus driver shortage.”
Rossignol, who was the union president during the last contract negotiations, said she doesn’t think the union is doing enough right now. She would like to see the district immediately open contract negotiations and give drivers a 15% raise. She also suggested that the district contribute to drivers’ retirement funds.
A decision to open negotiations early would come from the school board and the union, according to O’Leary.
Hayward said that while raising wages may be part of the solution, it could lead other districts to raise their rates. “Salaries can become an arms race,” he said.
Rossignol feels like bus drivers are not treated with the same respect as other employees. The role is seen as “just a job for housewives or someone wanting a part-time job,” she said.
Hayward said he wants to be a good partner with the union to address drivers’ concerns.
“The drivers are the first people up in the morning, and often the last out at night,” he said. “I’m grateful for every minute they dedicate to our students.”
