BATON ROUGE - Teachers, bus operators and support staff in East Baton Rouge Parish will receive a pay raise. For bus operators, the hourly rate will increase from $14.20 to $20.50.

Their workday will drop from eight hours to six, which several bus operators say they are concerned about.

"When we say we want those eight hours. We are looking at an additional $100 to $200 on our check. When you take it down to six, it's basically the same check we are getting now," East Baton Rouge Parish Schools Transportation Driver Keeva Dunmars said.

Bus operators can pick up additional routes or extra work to get more money. Superintendent LaMont Cole says he met with bus operators this week to provide some clarity on that.

"Just helping them to understand that while we've changed the salary structure, in terms of the amount of hours they will be paid for versus the amount of hours they work. We've also changed the opportunity for them to make additional funds if they choose to do so," Cole said.

The starting salary for teachers will increase by $6,000, bringing it to $56,000. Pay raises for teachers and staff already working for the school system will be based on a salary schedule that takes into account placement, position, and years of experience.

"Every salary schedule has a max cap, and if we have employees who are already at the max cap, they don't actually receive a raise. But we have a small, very small, less than 1% of our faculty and staff or our employees have capped out," Cole said.

Cole says he believes the new salary schedule will help retain employees and recruit high-quality individuals to work in the school district.

"I'm really excited that, you know, the conversation about raises for our employees has triggered a new interest in our school system, so we've seen an increase in the number of people who have applied to be employees in our school system," Cole said.

Pay raises are set to go into effect on July 1.