Unruly student behavior is cited as a big reason why Jefferson County Public Schools struggle to hire and keep school bus drivers.

As Kentucky editions June Lefler reports, state lawmakers say drivers in Kentucky deserve a bigger voice on and off the bus.

Last fall, dozens of school bus drivers in Louisville organized a sickout to protest some of their working conditions.

What was the reason that they were calling out?

What were they not hearing?

Responses to?

And the answers were disciplined.

The response to referrals.

Parents and guardians actions at the bus stops and lack of accountability by administrators.

And their voices not being heard.

Just in the autumn semester of CPS.

We saw instances 366 of intentionally throwing objects 366 taunting, baiting, inciting a fight with 220 for just one semester.

Striking a student 1226 instances, a fourth degree assault.

We saw 50 instances.

Republican state lawmakers from Jefferson County sponsored House Bill 446.

But lawmakers from other school districts say this isn't just a Louisville issue.

I know like in my district a couple of years ago, we started having some issues on the busses and we decided to install cameras in every bus.

We have to hold kids accountable and then, you know, the flip side, that's we also have to hold parents accountable.

The bill would require school boards to adopt a transportation policy that outlines how students must behave on the bus.

Both students and their parents would have to agree to the terms.

And if a bus driver says a student has violated the policy, the driver could refuse to transport that student.

The driver could also turn that student over to a district official, a parent or guardian or even the police.

A Louisville Democrat says this bill needs to fall in line with federal protections for certain students.

The only students who are.

Required.

In the special education venue to have transportation are those who end up on special needs transportation.

If passed, the bill would go into effect during the next school year.

The committee also signed off on a resolution to let teachers teach.

The resolution would form the Teacher Red Tape Reduction Task Force, which would look for outdated, redundant or unnecessary mandates imposed on teachers.

My wife is like many other teachers in the classroom today.

She loves students.

She loves education, but she just doesn't like all the additional hoops she has to jump through each day to do her job.

The task force would begin meeting after the session and would have to submit recommendations by December.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Jim Leffler.