Bus drivers in ISD 831 have a new two-year contract in hand. The school board on Dec. 7 voted 7-0 to ratify the two agreement and also approved a structural balance resolution indicating that the settlement is within budget parameters. The two contract is effective from the day after Labor Day 2006 to the day after Labor Day 2008. The 93-member labor group is represented by Teamsters Local 320. The settlement provides annual pay increases of 3 percent a year and insurance improvements of .81 percent in the first year and .84 percent in the second year. School bus drivers in the district are paid on a five-step schedule for regular routes. A first year driver now earns $14.32 an hour with a driver at the fifth step earning $16.03 an hour. Starting this fall, the pay range is $14.75 an hour at the first step and $16.51 an hour at the top step. Drivers are paid flat rates of pay for activity routes, bus washing, route bidding and training sessions and safety meetings. The contract will require $2.2 million in expenditures in the first year and $2.3 million in the second year. The bus drivers are the only labor group that has a contract that does not commence with the start of the fiscal year on July 1.

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