Back-To-School Becomes Nightmare for Parents as Bus Shortage Plagues Districts Nationwide

As students head back to school, some communities around the country are facing a significant hurdle: a persistent bus driver shortage.

Nearly 900 families with students attending schools in Albemarle County, Virginia, received a jarring notification just two weeks before the beginning of the academic year – they won't have a school bus service due to an insufficient number of drivers.

This eleventh-hour revelation has left many parents fuming. “The leadership of Albemarle County schools just can’t fix problems, even if it’s completely clear what the problem is," parent Paul McArtor told local station WVIR. "They had months to do it."

Yet, experts emphasize that the difficulty in attracting and retaining bus drivers isn’t a new problem.

It has "plagued the school transportation industry for years” and continues to create headaches for students, parents, and educators. “The school bus driver shortage actually has been going on for quite a few years. It is more acute now than it was prior to the pandemic, but there has been steadily this issue growing across the country," Molly McGee-Hewitt of the National Association for Pupil Transportation told The Hill.

According to a report by the outlet, the busing sector has wrestled with various challenges, ranging from licensing hurdles, competitive salary offerings, and evolving workforce demographics, to issues triggered by unruly students.

Bus systems have historically relied on part-time employees, often including retirees, seniors, and stay-at-home parents, The Hill noted. "We used to be a majority female workforce," said Don DeVivo, a former chair of the American Bus Association, adding that many drivers were aged "25 to 50." DeVivo highlighted a shift, saying now many young men use school bus jobs to obtain commercial driver's licenses, only to migrate to better-paying roles.

DeVivo added, “What we’re seeing is they’re using the school bus as an entry point to get that CDL and to get some driving experience. So we’re seeing the younger minority males entering the workforce for the CDL driving, but they’re not staying there."

McGee-Hewitt acknowledged that during the COVID-19 pandemic's peak, some innovative school districts utilized their bus drivers in unique ways. “We have to really congratulate school districts who use their bus drivers and their buses to deliver food to kids, deliver curriculum, and even school buses were moving hotspots for students to be able to use the internet."

However, as the world moves towards post-pandemic normalcy, school bus services face increasing competition from other sectors.

McGee-Hewitt explained, "Well, now we’re post-pandemic, the world is kind of shifting back right to a degree and again, the same issues that kind of impacted us before. People wanting more salaries and people wanting more hours." She added, “And also the competition for these folks because today, Amazon and many of the delivery services have opened in most communities and Amazon pays more than it is to be a bus driver in most school districts.”

Besides the transportation woes, educators are still grappling with other concerns.

For example, schools in Arizona and Florida have been diligently attempting to repair broken air conditioning systems amidst scorching temperatures, while others are addressing staffing issues due to a national teacher shortage.