We're just about two or so weeks away from the beginning of the school year, and some districts still need bus drivers to get kids to class.
Pasco County tops the list, telling us they need to hire 54 drivers by the beginning of the school year.
The starting pay for that job is $13.25 an hour, which includes paid training and benefits.
Behind Pasco is Polk County: they sent out an urgent press release earlier this week, indicating they need to hire 40 drivers.
Sarasota needs 27. Manatee needs about 10-20 more drivers. Citrus County needs 16, Highlands 11.
And Hernando needs 3 more drivers.
Hardee County? They tell us they're good to go -- all their positions are filled.
But what about our two biggest counties?
Pinellas tells us their numbers are constantly fluctuating because they're so big, but as of Friday they have 480 drivers for 460 positions, so that's actually a surplus.
But some of those drivers are still in training and some people could drop out of the training program. Pinellas says basically they're always hiring bus drivers because they're always in need.
Hillsborough is the only county that hasn't gotten back to us yet. Their office was closed Friday. We'll update their numbers on wtsp.com as soon as they send them over.
Keep in mind: all of these school districts have substitute and part-time drivers on call to help fill the gaps when there's a driver shortage.
Districts across the Bay area telling me they're confident they'll be ready to go for the first day of school.
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