Families scramble to find rides as school districts face bus driver shortage

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• Geoff Bennett:

  This Labor Day comes at a moment when unions and workers are flexing their power. The writers strike is entering its fourth month, while actors are striking too.

  In just two weeks, autoworkers may very well take to the picket line, and UPS drivers ratified an historic contract this summer.

  But employees still face significant battles and employers are still coping with shortages of workers. In school districts across the country, many are facing a shortage of bus drivers.

  Ali Rogin takes a closer look.

• Ali Rogin:

  Alanna Smith and her husband were gearing up for the school year in Charlottesville, Virginia, when they learned their middle son's bus route was canceled.

• Alanna Smith, Parent:

  We were aware that they'd been struggling, and we had received notice that students were not guaranteed to have a bus that would take them to their schools. But we didn't actually know for sure that there was a problem until we received an e-mail about two weeks before school started saying that one of my children would not be bused to his school.

  So you're like doing the mental calculations and the gymnastics, being like, OK, how can I — how can I make this work with our family now?

• Ali Rogin:

  A recent USA Today analysis found at least one instance of a major school bus driver shortage in every state in the U.S.

  Joanna McFarland is the CEO of HopSkipDrive, an organization that helps districts access supplemental transportation for students.

• Joanna McFarland, CEO, HopSkipDrive:

  We have had a school bus driver shortage for over a decade. That shortage was really exacerbated by COVID, with a large number of drivers retiring early.

  And we're just not finding enough people in the pool that want to be school bus drivers for districts to hire the number of drivers that they need.

• Ali Rogin:

  She says more is at stake for students than many realize.

• Joanna McFarland:

  Access to transportation is really access to education. Across the country, we're also seeing an increase in chronic absenteeism. It's really impacting our ability to get kids to school, which affects learning outcomes, affects education, but also affects stress levels that families are feeling every single day.

• Ali Rogin:

  Laura Rupe-Jackson has been a school bus driver for 18 years in Washington state.

• Laura Rupe-Jackson, Washington State Bus Driver:

  I don't really have the time to get to know any of the students like I used to. It's more "Good morning, kind of smile and nod when they get on the bus, and then say goodbye at the school.

• Ali Rogin:

  The issue is in part due to low pay. The average bus driver in the U.S. makes $41,270 per year.

• Laura Rupe-Jackson:

  We're in the middle of several other districts that are in the same situation of driver shortages. And so it really hurt us that two of our neighboring districts pay significantly more and offered hiring bonuses. So, we lost 10 drivers to another district just for that reason.

• Ali Rogin:

  The dire situation is requiring districts and parents to outsource.

  In Philadelphia, a pandemic program paying parents a stipend to do the driving is still in effect.

  Monique Braxton, Spokesperson, School District of Philadelphia: Each family is paid $300 a month — that's per household — if they're willing to take their children to school and pick them up. If they're not willing to pick up their students in the afternoon, then they're paid $150 a month.

• Ali Rogin:

  Meanwhile, back in Charlottesville, Alanna Smith took matters into her own hands with a vehicle the family already owned.

• Alanna Smith:

  I drive a 15-passenger van. I have been driving that since 2019. And I did start out talking to some other moms and trying to figure out if we could carpool.

  But the problem was that they didn't have enough room in their cars for all the people who wanted to carpool.

• Ali Rogin:

  And so the Walton Middle School Shuttle idea was hatched. Smith now offers rides to and from her son's middle school for $5 each way.

• Alanna Smith:

  My dream would be that they hire another bus driver next week, and I say, well, I'm glad I could help out for a couple of weeks, and my work here is finished, and I go back to doing all the other things that I normally do.

• Ali Rogin:

  For more this issue. I'm joined by Molly McGee-Hewitt. She's the CEO and executive director of the National Association for Pupil Transportation.

  Molly, thank you for joining us.

  There was a bus driver shortage last year, and the situation this year is the same, if not worse. Why is that?

  Molly McGee-Hewitt, CEO and Executive Director, National Association for Pupil Transportation: Well, I do think it's acute this year.

  I think it's been going on for at least 10 years before the pandemic. During the pandemic, there was a great number of retirements, as well as — you know, best drivers or hourly employees. And while, during the pandemic, they — many school districts use their transportation people to deliver free and reduced lunch, curriculum, even mobile hot spots, but an awful lot of drivers did not get hours during the pandemic.

  And so they would be looking at other areas. And, also, the pay for drivers, in many instances, it is not — does not support a lifestyle that they might need. And it's not necessarily competitive today.

• Ali Rogin:

  You have previously noted also that some drivers got jobs with major producers like Amazon. Has that led to a part of what we're seeing today?

• Molly McGee-Hewitt:

  Well, I think, if you look around the country, it doesn't matter where you go, everyone is hiring.

  Whether it's — whether it is Amazon or UPS or any of them, or school districts or TSA, we do have a work shortage in America right now. I do think, in our transportation industry, a lot of our folks found that they were able to get jobs with guaranteed numbers of hours, guaranteed benefits.

  And the difference between driving a truckload of packages and driving an iconic school bus, one of the safest vehicles on the road today full of children, is a pretty big stretch. And I have to tell, those packages don't really talk back to you at times and they're pretty easy to handle.

• Ali Rogin:

  Well, and, to that point, school bus drivers are such an important part of a child's day. They get to know the children. They can flag when something seems amiss with these children.

  Plus, as we have come to learn, there are rigorous certifications that school bus drivers must meet. So, the fact that there are the shortages, are school districts having to compromise in who they hire for these incredibly important and skilled positions?

• Molly McGee-Hewitt:

  Well, I don't know of any school districts that are compromising the requirements, because the requirements are very spelled out in terms of licensure experience, background checks, et cetera.

  And one of the ways to solve this issue is not to change or to lessen the requirements for school bus drivers. The way that we need to address this issue is, we need to look at all the elements of it, make sure that drivers are getting guaranteed numbers of hours, make sure that they have a fringe benefit package that's competitive, make sure that they have training in areas — for example, today at a bus stop, you don't know who's going to be there other than the children you're picking up.

  So they need extra assistance in de-escalation and professional development.

• Ali Rogin:

  You have been monitoring this issue closely.

  What are some of the solutions that you see individual school districts implementing that have really worked?

• Molly McGee-Hewitt:

  Well, this is a year-round issue.

  And right now, because of issues that have popped up in the news, we're all focused on it. But this is a — it is a year-round issue. So the most successful districts do recruit, train, and retain all year long, looking at ways to make sure they're successful. They have done work to make sure that they are competitive in their salary and fringe benefit.

  I know, in Virginia, one school district went and got extra funding to make sure that they could offer their drivers a better pay. In terms of the training and that, I see them — there's a school district in Texas. We talk about exit interviews. Well, they do what's called stay interviews, where they interview their drivers and find out what makes you want to be a bus driver, and they're able to be there.

  The best people to recruit bus drivers are our directors of transportation, our trainers, routers, mechanics and our bus drivers.

  And so I see the most successful districts using a variety of tools, and using those folks to do it. And, by the way, even though this is a national issue, there really isn't a national answer to this issue. It has to be done district by district and state by state.

  And so that means that school boards and superintendents need to make school transportation a priority. And I know they have so many competing priorities. But getting kids to school safely and efficiently has to be at the top of our list.

• Ali Rogin:

  Molly McGee-Hewitt with the National Association for Pupil Transportation, thank you so much for being here.

• Molly McGee-Hewitt:

  And thank you for inviting me to be a part of it.