FOREST LAKE, Minn. — School bus drivers in the Forest Lake Area Schools could walk off the job as early as May 2, if contract negotiations between the union and district fall through.
Drivers held signs and picketed outside of the district’s headquarters on Thursday, a few hours before the school board met in closed session about strategies for labor negotiations. The Teamsters Local 320 union voted to authorize a strike last week after rejecting a tentative agreement with the district.
Karen Rose, who has driven a school bus for the district for three years, said many drivers are leaving Forest Lake because of lower wages.
“We’re losing bus drivers to surrounding areas that have higher wages, especially at the starting, so we can’t even get them into the door, let alone retain some of the ones we do get in,” Rose said. “With the drivers throughout the year, or two years, routes have been combined, we have open routes closed, canceled routes.”
Bus drivers in Forest Lake currently start at $18.60 an hour. According to Teamsters Local 320 business agent Amy Perusse, that figure is 12 percent lower than the market rate.
“For a job that takes on this much responsibility of driving students,” Perusse said, “that’s ridiculous.”
In the tentative agreement that the union rejected, superintendent Steve Massey said the district had offered the highest wage increase in more than a decade. That agreement called for up to an 8-percent wage increase over two years, depending on seniority, along with a boost in medical coverage.
Massey said it’s difficult for Forest Lake to go much higher, due to unique challenges related to the district’s vast geographic area. With a 220-square-mile radius serving 75 bus routes over 12 cities, bus drivers in Forest Lake drive an estimated 5,500 miles per day.
However, the state’s funding formula pays districts per student, not per mile, which costs the district about a half-million dollars per year.
“I would contend that if there is a strike, unfortunately, that the place to picket is not our doorstep – but the doorstep of the legislature,” Massey said. “What I could do with half a million dollars to our general fund, to our fund balance, to our wages, is significant. I’ve lobbied that year after year with the legislature, to no avail. It’s frustrating.”
At the state capitol this legislative session, the House has proposed a measure that increases the amount of money the state would offer to districts to cover their transportation deficits. DFL Rep. Josiah Hill, who represents Forest Lake as a part of his district, authored a bill to increase the percentage of the deficit covered from 18.2 percent to 70 percent; however, the current House Education funding bill limits that number to about 40 percent.
“I am still proud that we were able to get that amount in our House proposal. I will continue to use my position as Vice Chair of the Education Policy Committee to push for a higher percentage as we head into the conference committee process,” Hill said in a statement. “If we are unable to reach the percentage that Forest Lake needs, I will continue to push for more funding in future budget years and advocate for the students, families, and employees of the Forest Lake school district, for as long as it takes.”
Sue Bruner, who has driven a school bus for Forest Lake for nearly three decades, acknowledged that a “broken system” places a strain on the district.
“It’s been a problem since the day I started, so something has to happen at the top. Right at the capitol,” Bruner said. “They’ve got to look at it. Gotta fix it.”
But Bruner and other drivers say the district still needs to come to the table with better offers.
“This is the first time we’ve made any noise,” Bruner said. “It’s a collective effort to fix this problem.”
The school district does have a plan in place in case the bus drivers do go on strike next month, which could include expanding pick-up and drop-off hours for parents.
The next mediation session between the union and the district will be held on April 28.
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