Upset and stressed out bus drivers rallied Wednesday morning in a parking lot off U.S. Highway 190 near Covington to protest the failure of a bill before the Louisiana Legislature that would have ensured them an operational pay increase.

Holding homemade posters and sporting their yellow “Will work for fuel” T-shirts, many drivers are now talking of changing professions, said Tim Miller, spokesperson for the group.

In a vehicle that gets 7 miles to the diesel gallon, most drivers are filling up twice a week at $180 per fill-up, said Merle Mulkey. The last operational pay revision was in 1986 when an entire month’s fuel bill was less than one fill-up today. “When I began driving, my monthly fuel bill was $120. That was in 1990. We haven’t had an increase since then,” Terry Engel said.

Add to that other operational expenses that independent drivers must pay for, including oil changes, tires, engine maintenance and the like, and it could spell disaster for the independent drivers who are also paying a hefty bus note.

Miller said many people have a lot of decisions to make over the summer. Many drivers have adopted a wait and see attitude regarding the price of fuel. Others are already contemplating getting rid of their buses and doing something else.

“How many people could run a household today on what they made in 1986?” asked one driver.

“I had to replace a motor for $11,000 after 136,000 miles due to the poor road conditions on my route. I had to take out a two-year loan to pay for the motor and rent a replacement bus while mine was being fixed,” said Lynn Crawford.

Her route includes Talisheek to Fontainebleau, and she said the paved roads are as bad as the unpaved ones.

With a base salary of $22,000 that also has not increased, many drivers are dipping into that salary to pay for fuel. A second family income is paying household expenses.

One thing drivers will not do is skimp on safety for the children, they said. Even with costs skyrocketing for everything from tires to fuel, they still maintain their buses for the children’s sake.

Many drivers protest that while legislators are voting themselves raises and increased expense accounts, drivers are cutting back on everything to provide the children of St. Tammany with transportation to and from school.

Basically, drivers say, the parish says it’s a state issue and the state says it’s a parish one. They said the parish has given drivers a fuel adjustment of 1 cent for every 5 cents that fuel rises, which amounts to a net loss for drivers of 4 cents every time fuel costs rises a nickel.

But Linda Roan, spokesperson for the St. Tammany Parish School Board, said the fuel adjustment made for bus drivers is calculated at 1 cent per mile, not for each gallon as the bus drivers have said, for every 5 cents per gallon that diesel fuel costs rise. She said the current fuel adjustment rate is 89 cents per mile, far exceeding the MFP enhancement money received by the district from the state.

Opposing LSA R.S. 17:497 and HB 386, Rep. Jim Fannon, D-Jonesboro, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said transportation expenses are included in the Minimum Foundation Program, which has risen to more than $3 billion per year. Rep. James Armes (D-Leesville), author of HB 386, refuted this, stating the MFP operates as a block grant and there is no specific allocation for transportation. The bill failed, 42-48.

Miller said the problem is the St. Tammany School Board gives the bus drivers the minimum allowed by law, but this isn’t enough to cover operating expenses.

Roan said the drivers are correct in saying the formula has not changed; however, she said, the school district has initiated a fuel adjustment in order to help the bus drivers during periods like they are currently experiencing when fuel costs rise constantly.

Roan said the School Board will be studying transportation in other districts to determine what is being done for those drivers. All of this will be considered during the budget process, and the School Board will be looking at all needs across the board to determine what adjustment need to be made, along with the anticipated revenue.