VIDALIA — More than 20 bus drivers were either overpaid or underpaid in the last fiscal year, and the Concordia Parish School Board wants answers.

Ten drivers underpaid by the district by as little as $18 and as much as $2,685 have already been paid the due money.

But drivers who have been overpaid by between $121 and $22,000 may be asked to repay money to the district.

The majority of the overpaid drivers — 13 — owe between $100 and $800. Only one was overpaid by $22,000 another by approximately $1,000.

The mistakes are due to errors in the bus route auditing process. Drivers are required to drive their routes the shortest possible distance. If they drive the route differently or pick up children not included in their route, they are violating policy.

The driver turns in his own audit, but it is the district’s responsibility to sign off on it.

The audits in question did pass through administrative hands for approval, board members said Tuesday night.

And several board members don’t think it is fair to ask the drivers to repay the money they’ve now had for months.

“How can we hold a driver liable for something administration didn’t do (correctly)?” board member Martha Rabb said.

Board President Gary Parnham asked Superintendent Kerry Laster to come to the June meeting with a complete set of facts, audits and numbers on the drivers in question.

“We want to be fair with everybody,” Parnham said. “We want to follow the law, and we want it straight down the line. The board is going to have to make a decision on what we want to do.”

Board member Raymond Riley said he wanted to understand how the errors originated and why they weren’t fixed earlier.

“You are talking about someone’s livelihood when you are taking that much money,” he said. “I don’t believe all of it is the bus drivers’ fault.”

In other business the board approved allowing the business manger to accept the lowest bid later this month to fund construction work at Ferriday Junior High School. The building, one of the newest in the district, has significant structural problems, Riley said.

The board also voted to change the extracurricular activity policy to prevent students from riding to or from any activity in personal vehicles unless the child’s parent has signed a waiver.