DOVER — State lawmakers in the Joint Finance Committee have approved an increase in pay for public school bus drivers, seeking to address a shortage of certified drivers that has impacted school districts across the state.

Enough money has been set aside to raise the effective hourly rate of bus drivers to $21 an hour from $15.92. The entire amount — $11.7 million — has been earmarked specifically for driver compensation, but the actual amount individual bus contracting companies pay their drivers could vary, according to a press release from House Democrats.

The pay increase for bus drivers is part of Delaware’s fiscal 2023 budget, which the committee voted on last week. The budget bill must still be approved by the full General Assembly this month.

“We rely on bus drivers to safely transport our children from home to school and back every day, and they fulfill that vital role wonderfully. It’s long past time for us to fairly compensate these dedicated workers for their service to our students,” said Rep. Kim Williams, D-Newport, a finance committee member and chair of the House Education Committee, in the release.

Some Delaware school districts have been struggling with bus driver shortages for years, including the Indian River School District, which serves over 10,000 students in its schools. The problem grew worse during the pandemic, according to the Delaware Department of Education, as school bus drivers are on average older and thus more at risk of severe illness due to COVID-19. Some districts have had their bus drivers make multiple runs between schools and homes to make up for the dearth of drivers.

Rep. Kevin Hensley, R-Townsend, an Education Committee member and former member of the Appoquinimink School Board, said that addressing the shortage has been an extremely important issue to him.

“Bus driver shortages have been a huge challenge here in the Middletown area … for a while. The whole thought process with the sizable increase that we were able to give them this year is in hopes that it will help them not only hire new bus drivers but retain the bus drivers that they have,” Rep. Hensley told Delaware State News.

The $11.7 million set aside for bus driver pay is itself a part of a larger pool of new school transportation funding the representatives and senators of the Joint Finance Committee voted to approve last week to address recommendations made by the Public School Transportation Committee, according to the press release. The transportation committee is composed of various state officials, school personnel and bus contractor representatives.

The committee increased funding for administrative expenses by $3.8 million, as well as an additional $1.4 million for maintenance costs — a 30% increase.

“In my opinion, it was overdue,” said Sen. Dave Wilson, R-Lincoln, of the new funding for school bus driver pay.

Bus drivers transport “our most precious people back and forth to school,” he said. “We want to attract good people. We want to attract people who are responsible and, well, pay them accordingly.”