America's troubling school bus driver shortage

Kids are heading back to school nationwide, but school bus driver shortages might make it hard for some students to get there. A recent USA Today analysis found that all 50 states have experienced at least "one instance of a major school bus driver shortage" so far this year. School districts are looking for ways to find solutions for the nationwide shortage of drivers, but some communities are having a hard time.

School districts are already struggling to fill teaching positions amid other significant curriculum changes and widespread book-banning policies. With all that on their plate, solving the problem of getting thousands of students to school is another bump in the road disrupting the flow of the back-to-school season.

What is causing the school bus shortage?

School districts have been struggling with a shortage of drivers for years, but the problem is finally coming to a head. A survey from HopSkipDrive, a school transportation service, found that 92% of school officials reported bus driver shortages interfering with operations, an increase from 88% last year and 78% in 2021. The top reasons for the shortage, cited by the over 220 school leaders and staff surveyed, were "issues recruiting new bus drivers" and "drivers retiring." The respondents also cited "driver pay," "losing drivers to private industry," and "Covid-19 concerns." The company also found 3 out of 4 respondents said school transportation issues hurt student attendance.

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Schools have been dealing with a "challenge recruiting new drivers for years and years," and "a massive group of drivers" left due to the pandemic, Joanna McFarland, HopSkipDrive's CEO and co-founder, told Axios. The pay rate might be dissuading potential recruits. On average, school bus drivers earn $42,400 annually per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "but that estimate assumes they work full-time, which is not always the reality," Axios noted.

Some of the shortage could be linked to a shift among drivers who used to drive part-time, Molly McGee-Hewitt, CEO and executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation, explained to Axios. "Because people were working split and limited shifts, many of them weren't eligible for benefits in their school district, or they were eligible for a limited amount of benefits, and so people needed more hours," McGee-Hewitt told the outlet.

Low wages are a problem, but the job has also become more difficult, Tomás Fret, president of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which covers New York City and its suburbs, told The New York Times, adding that there have been more confrontations with students and parents. Fret started driving school buses in 1996 and said when he "started the job, workers were able to send their kids to college."

How are school districts coping with the shortage?

Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky's largest district, attempted to redesign routes with help from AlphaRoute, a Boston-area engineering firm specializing in routing software. The district said the goal was to adjust for fewer drivers, but it ended with longer routes and chaos on the first day of school, the Times reported. The changes AlphaRoute made "led to some students not being picked up in the morning and others not getting home until nearly 10 p.m," The Associated Press explained. As a result, Jefferson County suspended classes for a week for all students from elementary to high school.

"We recognize that the situation was extremely regrettable and likely caused by the significant changes to bus routing, which were made necessary by the district's severe driver shortage," AlphaRoute said, per the Times.

Louisiana's East Baton Rouge School System also canceled classes on Aug. 21 due to a driver shortage, Quartz reported. Meanwhile, in Chicago and Philadelphia, districts offer parents a stipend for driving their kids to school. Philadelphia is offering $3,000 through its Parent Flat Rate Program, and Chicago is offering $500 a month. The latter city also offers free Ventra cards for the city's public transportation system. The city only has 681 bus drivers out of the estimated 1,300 it would require to effectively help students commute to school, CBS News reported.