Cypress Edition | December 2024

Education

BY DANICA LLOYD

Pay raises approved for Cy-Fair ISD bus drivers At the Nov. 11 board meeting, the Cy-Fair ISD board approved raising the starting pay rate for bus drivers in a 6-0 vote. The district competes with neighboring school districts and entities such as Amazon Freight Part- ners, CFISD Chief Operations Ocer Matt Morgan said at the Nov. 7 board work session. By the numbers In addition to the nearly 20% bump in the starting pay rate, all current drivers, attendants, dispatchers and trainers will see a $3.81 equity adjustment to their pay rates, ocials said Nov. 7. Morgan said despite reducing bus service for the 2024-25 school year, the department has about 56 bus driver vacancies and 50-75 driver absences daily. In June, the board unanimously approved updating transportation service eligibility criteria

CFISD nalizes 202526 calendar

Bus driver starting pay in Cy-Fair ISD Old $19.19 per hour

New $23 per hour

Cy-Fair ISD’s board of trustees approved in a 6-0 vote the Districtwide Educational Improvement Council’s 2025-26 academic calendar recommendation at the Nov. 11

SOURCE: CYFAIR ISDCOMMUNITY IMPACT

to save about $4.8 million in the scal year 2024- 25 budget. This mid-year pay increase is expected to cost $5.4 million—prorated to $3.5 million. Also of note Superintendent Doug Killian said Nov. 7 if this eort suciently boosts the district’s bus driver numbers, ocials could reinstate the bus routes that were cut this year, but it’s also dependent on revenue. “We’re going to try this out to see if we can attract some more drivers and ll those empty positions that we have. ... I know there’s been a lot of talk in the community about restoring some routes. That might be possible if we can actually get bus drivers to ll the vacant positions right now,” Killian said.

board meeting. Dates to know

• Aug. 4-12, 2025: Professional days • Aug. 13, 2025: First day of school • Nov. 24-28, 2025: Student/sta holiday • Dec. 19, 2025-Jan. 2, 2026: Student/sta holiday • Jan. 5, 2026: Professional day/student holiday • March 9-13, 2026: Student/sta holiday

• May 28, 2026: Last day of school See the full approved calendar at www.csd.net.

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