Some Franklin County bus drivers strike over wages

WINCHESTER Tenn. (WSMV) - A number of school bus drivers did not report for work on Tuesday in Franklin County.

This stems from the county commissioner’s vote to not approve the school board’s budget on Monday night, which included a raise of $10,000 for the drivers.

The school bus drivers work are contracted from a privately-owned company and have not been given a raise in ten years.

According to WCDT Radio, the county commissioner’s vote not to approve the school board’s budget was over the desire to build a new activity center. The funds for the new center were not included in the budget, so the commissioner did not sign off.

“We put it in the budget, we gave teachers a nice raise, it was not popular with a lot of county commissioners, but we did it anyways,” said Franklin County’s Director of Schools, Stanley Bean to WCDT Radio. “We did what we thought we had to do and for something that’s not even in the budget, has gotten the county commissioners against the budget.”

What adjustments were made to get all students to school on Tuesday morning is unknown.

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