The National School Bus Driver Shortage

Photo Credit: Wikepedia

By: Brayden Dodson 

School bus drivers are a staple in a student's everyday life, as they drive them to and from school. So, you would think that being a bus driver would be a very sought out job, right? Despite how important a bus driver is to the everyday family, there has been a decrease in bus driver employment throughout the nation. Insignificant pay for the long and grueling hours make it difficult for schools to hire and keep bus drivers. As my mom is a school bus driver for Jenks and the topic could get someone in trouble for speaking about the topic, all the bus drivers will be anonymous for obvious reasons. After my mom interviewed several of her fellow Jenks’ bus drivers I got some answers on why the nation has a bus driver shortage in the first place.

Driver 1:

“The number one reason is that the pay is not keeping up with basic needs for living,” said Anonymous Bus Driver.

I have also learned that the number one issue for the lack of bus drivers is the rate of pay in relation to the amount of responsibility a bus driver carries. Another factor is the disciplinary actions of the school administrators.

Driver 2:

“Discipline issues not being handled by principles for bus infractions, repeated disciplinary issues keep happening” said Anonymous Bus Driver.

There seems to be a lack of consistency in the disciplinary actions taken by the site administrators. This leaves many bus drivers feeling frustrated and unsupported. Another factor is many people take on a bus driving job in their retirement years for the insurance benefits, but the stress of dealing with student discipline issues deems it not worth the benefit.

Driver 3:

“A lot of bus drivers are people that are retired and can’t handle the students and quit because of the students,” said Anonymous Bus Driver, “Most of the people that work on buses are older and most of the time just don’t want to work anymore. Some of these people have been working for 60+ years.”

Bus drivers are the first ones at work every morning, and the last ones to leave every night. The early morning hours are appealing to many people, especially younger people who have a longer work expectancy.

 Driver 1,2, and 3:

“It’s not a true full time job, most schools only have 30 hour contracts when most younger people want 40 hour contracts,” said Anonymous Bus driver.

“Hours of work,” said Another Bus driver.

“Desirability,” said Another Bus driver.

The overall public perception is that being a bus driver is a horrible job, that it is difficult and awful. Most people would never consider being a bus driver. 

Pay, hours, desirability, and disciplinary issues are all factors for the entire nation having a school bus driver shortage. Although all of these issues could be fixed, most schools can’t afford to pay their bus drivers more or make the job more desirable to pursue. Disciplinary issues are not the responsibility of being a bus driver, it is the responsibility of the district, not disciplining misbehaving students that are making the drivers already horrible work day worse. Districts need to make transportation for students a number one priority.