Across the country, school districts have been experiencing a shortage of bus drivers, with low pay, retirements and lingering effects from the COVID-19 pandemic cited as factors.
In some cases, state and local governments have been cutting back on offering school bus services.
About 28% of students in the United States take a bus, according to a 2023 Federal Highway Administration survey, a figure that represents a decrease from 36% in 2017.
Although Madison County’s two largest districts — Anderson Community Schools and South Madison Community School Corp. — are not currently reporting driver shortages, officials in both places said they continuously monitor staffing levels to ensure an adequate pool of substitute drivers is available.
“All of our routes have been covered for this school year,” said Candy Stewart, director of transportation at South Madison Community School Corp. “We can always use sub bus drivers. Sometimes sub bus drivers do not have to sub too long before getting a permanent route if that’s what they are wanting. Other times it may be six months to a year before one becomes available.”
South Madison has two independent, contract drivers while the rest are employed by the district.
“With all the growth in the southern part of Madison County, I can see adding more routes eventually,” Stewart said. “We do offer paid training as they are going through the process of getting their (commercial driver’s) license.”
Ken Frost, a bus driver for South Madison, said he enjoys watching students “grow up” on his bus.
“We have many drivers that have driven multiple decades,” Frost said. “They keep coming back because they like to watch the kids grow through the grades and see them progress. (The drivers) understand that they have been a part of the successful journey of (the student’s) education.”
Anderson Community Schools contracts out its transportation to local firms like Anderson Transit, which helps prevent driver shortages. ACS currently has 108 buses on the roads.
Jeff Sells, the director of operations at ACS, said it has always made more sense financially to contract drivers instead of hiring them.
“We have a great relationship with Anderson Transit,” Sells said. “They do a phenomenal job for us and they meet the needs. As far as shortages go, we do not have a shortage just because Anderson Transit takes care of that for us.
“Could you always have more drivers? Absolutely. I know that (Anderson Transit) is always actively looking for drivers, but it has not affected our day-to-day operations at all.”
Anderson Transit and its sister company, Day Transportation, have a combined total of around 90 bus drivers. On-site training is offered for a commercial license to drive a bus, and drivers are paid for their training.
“At the beginning of this year, we had a very good count of bus drivers,” said Matthew Benzenbower, a director at Anderson Transit. “We actually had about six extra (drivers). Right now, we are on a downslope of employees. I have done multiple ads on multiple websites, and we have our own website. We are looking for drivers and bus assistants pretty big right now.”
Frost said many people who come to train to be a bus driver are nervous but become more comfortable when they start learning.
“Many people that are coming to us to train have never driven a bus before or never driven a big piece of equipment before,” Frost said. “Many times, they are apprehensive about starting the process, but once they get into the training and start working, they’re like ‘Oh, I can do this.’ The joy of seeing them go from ‘I do not think I can do this’ to ‘I got this’ is very rewarding.”
Frost mentioned there are many benefits to being a bus driver.
“There are many times students’ parents have given me Christmas cards and notes saying, ‘Thank you for being our child’s bus driver. You make a positive difference in our child’s life,’ ” Frost said. “I keep those because they are meaningful. It is very rewarding, and that is the satisfaction part of the job.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.