US School Bus Fleet Faces 21,000 Driver Loss as Kids Miss Rides
A 10% decline since 2019 is forcing districts to seek legislative changes to cut training time for new hires.
By Harper Collins ·
The pool of school bus drivers in the United States has shrunk by nearly 10% over the last six years. Employment numbers fell from 223,252 in August 2019 to 202,076 in August 2025. This decline is creating daily disruptions for students and parents across the country.
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, thousands of students switched to remote learning for three days in April 2026 due to a lack of available drivers. South Carolina’s largest school district issued more than 7,000 delay notifications to parents during the first 10 weeks of the 2025-2026 school year. Victoria Encarnacion in Waterbury, Connecticut, describes a recurring problem where her daughter missed her pickup once a month.
Encarnacion said her daughter waited outside until she realized the bus was not coming. The girl walked to multiple stops for an hour before going home. Encarnacion recalled her daughter calling to say, “Mom, I quit.” Encarnacion noted that the uncertainty of whether the bus will arrive is a daily stressor, even if the missed pickups only happen monthly.
Mark Medina, a regional director with the National Association for Pupil Transportation, explains that the shortage is driven by several factors. He stated that drivers often feel they are in a “lose-lose situation” because they can move to other industries with better pay once they obtain a commercial driver’s license. Medina added that split shifts and changes in risk factors for an older workforce make it hard to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels.
Medina said the association is working to secure retirement cap waivers and tax relief for drivers. He expressed confidence that the industry will adapt, noting, “There’s a figure it out attitude in the school transportation world.” He believes that if this mindset continues, the sector will remain stable.
Lawmakers introduced the Driving Forward Act in 2025 to address a specific hiring barrier. The bill would remove the requirement for school bus drivers to identify engine parts and explain how they work. Lawmakers argue that this requirement is designed for long-haul trucking and can add three to four days of training. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration stated that the exemption would not affect safety.
