If they keep coming in at the same rate, the district should be staffed up for the year, Haney said. In the weeks since, it has seen an uptick in applications. The district also increased bus-driver pay and offered a program to help people get their commercial licenses. “It was very alarming and very concerning,” he said. Administrators put out the word that office staffers might have to get their commercial driver’s licenses just to get all the kids to and from school. It was down about 30 drivers, so its workforce would have been too small to staff all their routes, said spokesman Jeff Haney. In suburban Salt Lake City, the Canyons School District was in dire straits about a month ago. One Michigan school district was able to find enough drivers by guaranteeing they could work enough hours in the district, including as janitors or in food service, to qualify for health insurance coverage, said Dave Meeuwsen, executive director of the Michigan Association of Pupil Transportation. His company allows bus drivers whose children are at least 1 year old to ride on the bus with them while they work, saving on daycare costs, Redford said. is a large enterprise involving some 25 million children and nearly a half million buses moving them to and from schools every school day. Field trips and sporting events can add more hours for those who want them, said Redford with First Student. The school bus industry is dealing with a significant shortage of school bus drivers a complex problem that pre-dated but was exacerbated by COVID school shutdowns. There’s no requirement to work nights, weekends or holidays. Demand for commercial drivers is only increasing with the pandemic-related surge in online shopping, said McFarland with HopSkipDrive.īut working with kids driving a bus can be a rewarding profession, and the hours work well for stay-at-home parents or retirees seeking to supplement their income, contractors say. And people who have them can often find higher-paying work that doesn’t require splitting the day for pickup and drop-off. Driving a school bus requires a commercial driver’s license that can take weeks to obtain. School transportation professionals from across the country agree low pay, poor benefits, and lack of support are driving the national bus driver shortage. President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered his education secretary to explore possible legal action against states that have blocked school mask mandates and other health measures meant to protect students against COVID-19.Įconomic forces are also at play in the bus driver shortage. Ron DeSantis, who wants to forbid mask mandates, and districts convinced they’re needed to keep kids safe. In Florida, many of the largest school districts are using managers as drivers and implementing other stop-gap measures to get students to class as the school year begins against a statewide political fight over masks between Republican Gov. Greg Abbott initially prohibited Texas school districts from requiring masks, but successful court challenges led the Texas Education Agency on Thursday to suspend enforcement of his ban while the challenges move through the courts. "There's no doubt it's a national problem, similar to what we see in service industries as well," Curt Macysyn, executive director for the National School Transportation Association, which represents private school bus contractors, told ABC News.Republican Gov. Schools across the country - from Pennsylvania to Virginia to Missouri to Ohio to Texas - have reported similar shortages. "COVID just completely exacerbated the bus driver shortage." We have everything that we need except the critical resource - bus drivers," Abbott said. "We have the money, we have the buses, we have the parts. As a result, the district has had to prioritize routes for around 20,000 students who are returning fully in person, leaving about 5,000 kids without the option of riding a school bus. This year, he said the school district was down over 30% - more than 110 drivers - as it was gearing up for the return of students last week. Before the pandemic, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System in Georgia had been down 10% from what it needed, which is manageable, Paul Abbott, executive director for transportation for the district, told ABC News. At the start of the school year, it's not uncommon for school districts to be short bus drivers.
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