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Both the Pennsylvania Senate and House passed a bi-partisan bill earlier this week that ensures school transportation employees will be paid, should schools close temporarily for cleaning due to a positive Covid-19 case, or an increase in cases that force a closing of an entire school district.

The Bill was amended to include the 2020-2021 school year. It was originally drafted for the 2019-2020 school year when all schools closed in March.

If children are not transported due to a school closure, the school will still be reimbursed for transportation costs for those children. Transportation costs include wages paid to their drivers.

This type of relief was previously provided to transportation employees through Act 13 during the statewide shutdown near the end of the last school year.

The Bill will be instrumental in retaining transportation employees throughout the state, many of which are opting for early retirement, or finding other employment.

It will also provide a savings to the state in the form of reduced unemployment compensation. Transportation employees who apply for partial unemployment due to lack of work, or reduced hours, may be eligible for an additional $300 included in their partial unemployment compensation from the state.

School districts have always had a shortfall of drivers, and with the Covid-19 pandemic now exploding and schools closing for a few days or weeks at a time, school bus drivers with CDL’s are being lost to trucking companies and other businesses, as they locate steady and reliable income in higher paying jobs.

The relief provided by the Bill hopes to prevent the loss of more transportation employees and the potential inability of school districts to provide transportation needs for the 2021-2022 school year, due to the number of employees who will not return after finding those higher paying jobs in a related industry that requires a CDL.