Philadelphia pays parents $300 a month to drive students to school
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Philadelphia parents can make hundreds of extra bucks each month by driving their kids to and from school.
Why it matters: A bus driver shortage has led the Philadelphia School District to ask families to alleviate some of its transportation burden.
Driving the news: The School District of Philadelphia is offering parents $300 monthly or $3,000 for the year to drive their children to and from class, rather than have them take a district bus.
- Families can also earn $150 a month or $1,500 annually if they drive their kids to school in the morning but they use district transportation to get home.
- Parents eligible for the program have until Oct. 1 to enroll.
Between the lines: The payments are per household, not for each individual child who attends a district school, per the district's website.
By the numbers: About 101,000 students rely on district transportation to get to class, per WHYY.
- The district still has more than 100 openings for bus drivers, WTXF-TV reports.
- Full-time drivers can earn $45,000 annually while part-timers can make more than $23,000.
Flashback: The transportation incentives were piloted in 2020 as a way to reduce the number of students taking buses during the pandemic. But the district has continued the program to help ease bus driver shortages.
- About 14,000 families have signed up over the last three school years, per district spokesperson Monique Braxton.
- That totals $46.7 million paid out to enrolled families.
Flash forward: As of last week, more than 8,500 families had already enrolled in the program.
- The district has budgeted $31.2 million for the program this school year, per Braxton.
Of note: Busing is typically provided to students in 1st-5th grade, which could impact a family's eligibility.