New and lost

[skoolbe]

I am a skoolie will be. Right now just lost with dream. I do not know where to begin. I live in south florida. My dream is to live in a skoolie and be able to travel with it in the summer. I am not sure how to navigate this site. If someone can clue me in I would be very appreciative. Trying to find out whether I am legally allowed to park it on someone's residential property in broward county. I have called city hall but unable to reach a human. Once I settle that, I need to know if a special license is required to drive one. Then the biggie... purchasing an already livable skoolie. I have very little money but a lot of determination. Please help. What is a thread and how do I work this site?What is a tag?

 

[bansil]

Welcome read 2 post above you, this may help

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f12/forums-101-posting-help-account-and-forum-basics-9889.html

Good luck

 

[OMGIBoughtABus]

Hello and welcome.

regarding a special license, that would be a CDL, commercial driving license. Most states just copy the wording from the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) as their law regarding if you need a CDL. In anutshell, the CFR says you need a CDL if it's still a school bus, once you convert it and retitle it as a RV you don't need a CDL. You should probably check Florida's laws specifically.

That being said, if your bus has air brakes and you have never driven a rig with air brakes, at least get a couple of lessons before you hit the highway. Please and thank you.

 

[CaptSquid]

I surrendered my Class A when I came off the road for health reasons. I don't need anything beyond a Class D to run Brunhilde. Still working on keeping warm, though.

 

[skoolbe]

Hello and welcome.

regarding a special license, that would be a CDL, commercial driving license. Most states just copy the wording from the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) as their law regarding if you need a CDL. In anutshell, the CFR says you need a CDL if it's still a school bus, once you convert it and retitle it as a RV you don't need a CDL. You should probably check Florida's laws specifically.

That being said, if your bus has air brakes and you have never driven a rig with air brakes, at least get a couple of lessons before you hit the highway. Please and thank you.

thank u, i definetly will. Where does one go to get lessons and how much are they are they?

 

[skoolbe]

i have an electric fireplace that works well. it is small and on wheels, top is flat and does not get warm. no vent needed. would that work on a skoolie for heat? that was my plan for my future skoolie.

 

[austin1989us]

i have an electric fireplace that works well. it is small and on wheels, top is flat and does not get warm. no vent needed. would that work on a skoolie for heat? that was my plan for my future skoolie.

the magic electric fireplace is probably a 1500W heater. I've got a 1500W oil filled radiator heater in my bus. It only keeps my bus in the 50s when temps dip down in the 20s overnight.

 

[OMGIBoughtABus]

thank u, i definetly will. Where does one go to get lessons and how much are they are they?

around here there is a shortage of school bus drivers. If you sign on as a part time/on call driver the school district will pay for your cdl classes. Added bonuses: You get experience with different bus styles, you get to know the mechanics at the bus barn, and you will probably get the first shot at surplus buses before they go to auction.

 

[skoolbe]

wow! too bad i am disabled, not able to earn $. maybe if i try as a volunteer on call.

 

[wunderhut]

around here there is a shortage of school bus drivers. If you sign on as a part time/on call driver the school district will pay for your cdl classes.

Same here. Because nobody wants to deal with 50+ disrespectful brats for $10/hr.

 

[austin1989us]

$10/hr.

It looks like my local school districts wages for bus drivers are $13/hr, $16.25/hr, $14.19/hr, $15.05/hr, $14.95/hr, $15.75/hr, $15.70/hr. That's a pretty easy $14,000/yr for a part time job with benefits. A substitute teacher that works full days every school day here barely makes $11,000/yr with a bachelor degree or teacher certification.

There are a lot of school districts in the Houston area. Some districts pay benefits, guarantee 5 hours a day, have signing bonuses/retirement plans/pensions.

 

[wunderhut]

Used to be ok around here when the districts owned the buses.

But now all the schools are contracting private bus companies who pay little and have pretty much no benefits.

The great corrupted state of Illinois isn't paying the schools so they can't afford things like buses anymore... just my kids school of only 400 students is just over $1mil back owed by the state.

Sorry for thread hijack...

 

[Crazy]

It looks like my local school districts wages for bus drivers are $13/hr, $16.25/hr, $14.19/hr, $15.05/hr, $14.95/hr, $15.75/hr, $15.70/hr. That's a pretty easy $14,000/yr for a part time job with benefits. A substitute teacher that works full days every school day here barely makes $11,000/yr with a bachelor degree or teacher certification.

There are a lot of school districts in the Houston area. Some districts pay benefits, guarantee 5 hours a day, have signing bonuses/retirement plans/pensions.

$11k per year? I don't think so unless you are talking about some third world country in Africa. You would make more than that mopping floors at McDonalds. I call B.S. Show me a school that pays that for a fulltime salary.

This is from my state and it's AVERAGE salaries. It has a list of state salaries also.

Average Salaries & Expenditure Percentage - CalEdFacts (CA Dept of Education)

 

[OMGIBoughtABus]

$11k per year? I don't think so unless you are talking about some third world country in Africa. You would make more than that mopping floors at McDonalds. I call B.S. Show me a school that pays that for a fulltime salary.

This is from my state and it's AVERAGE salaries. It has a list of state salaries also.

Average Salaries & Expenditure Percentage - CalEdFacts (CA Dept of Education)

substitute teacher pay in Tomball Texas is $100 per day if you work 10 or more consecutive days. =18k before taxes and FICA maximum. That sounds like barely 11000 take home to me.

Tomball Independent School District

 

[Crazy]

substitute teacher pay in Tomball Texas is $100 per day if you work 10 or more consecutive days. =18k before taxes and FICA maximum. That sounds like barely 11000 take home to me.

Tomball Independent School District

While I find the pay disgusting, playing with numbers is pretty shady. $18k is not $11k. Nowhere on this planet is salary quoted at net. Fed tax rate is 10% and Texas has no income tax. FICA is 6.2%. That doesn't take 18 to 11 unless you subtract Big Macs, dish soap, car insurance, etc.

$13/hr, $16.25/hr, $14.19/hr, $15.05/hr, $14.95/hr, $15.75/hr, $15.70/hr.

These numbers are gross not net so why mix the two?

 

[OMGIBoughtABus]

While I find the pay disgusting, playing with numbers is pretty shady. $18k is not $11k. Nowhere on this planet is salary quoted at net. Fed tax rate is 10% and Texas has no income tax. FICA is 6.2%. That doesn't take 18 to 11 unless you subtract Big Macs, dish soap, car insurance, etc.

These numbers are gross not net so why mix the two?

sarcasm is wasted on some people

 

[Crazy]

sarcasm is wasted on some people

Sarcasm is for smart people, so if you are talking about me, yes it is wasted.

 

[austin1989us]

It looks like my mistake caused a bit of a commotion. Subs in CFISD make $90/day with a certification and/or bachelor's degree. I thought Tomball ISD was the same, but they may have raised their rate recently. There are 177 days in a school year for CFISD. Assuming you can get a job all 177 days (not likely) that's just shy of $16,000. The bus driver's hours are guaranteed. The sub's hours aren't. Bus drivers also have the opportunity to work more than just their guaranteed hours.

The $11k number must've came from the paraprofessional rate. They make $65/day. It's the same chart, but one line under what a sub teacher makes. I must've picked the wrong number when I was punching numbers in the calculator. Sorry for the confusion.

Also, school employees don't pay the 6.2% social security portion of FICA in Texas (but they have to pay into TRS).

 

[austin1989us]

I call B.S. Show me a school that pays that for a fulltime salary

Also, that's not a salary, that's a day rate. Subs in my area are paid by the half day. Half a day = 4 hours = $45 = $11.25/hr

Substitutes aren't salaried employees here. And teaching isn't a full time job for most teachers. There are 2,080 hours in a normal work year, but a substitute only has 1,416 hours in a year.

 

[austin1989us]

Sorry for thread hijack...

Ditto. This went way astray.