School bus driver count drops by 21,000 in six years

The number of school bus drivers employed in the United States fell by 21,176 between August 2019 and August 2025. The workforce shrank from 223,252 to 202,076, representing a decrease of nearly 10 percent over that six-year period.

This drop in staffing has created immediate disruptions for families across the country. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, thousands of students stayed home to learn remotely over three days in April 2026 because the district could not find enough drivers to run all routes. South Carolina’s largest school district sent more than 7,000 delay notifications to parents during the first 10 weeks of the 2025-2026 school year due to a lack of available drivers.

Victoria Encarnacion, a parent in Waterbury, Connecticut, says her daughter often faces missed pickups. Encarnacion reported that her daughter waited outside for the bus, realized no vehicle was coming, and walked to North Main. After spending an hour walking to multiple stops without success, the student went home. Encarnacion said her daughter called to say, “Mom, I quit.” Encarnacion said these missed pickups happen about once a month.

Mark Medina, a regional director with the National Association for Pupil Transportation, noted that drivers often feel stuck in a difficult position. He said, “They’re doing the best that they can. It’s not an easy thing to transport a bus with 50 kids. There’s a lot happening.” Medina explained that the pandemic showed drivers can switch to other industries with higher pay once they obtain a commercial driver’s license. He said the association is working to secure retirement cap waivers and tax relief for drivers.

Lawmakers in 2025 introduced the Driving Forward Act to remove a specific training barrier for new drivers. Currently, all commercial driver’s license holders must identify engine parts and understand how they work. Lawmakers argued this requirement is designed for long-haul trucking and adds three to four extra days of training. The bill would remove this requirement for school bus drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the exemption would not affect safety.

Medina said split shifts and changes in risk factors for an older workforce make it hard to return to pre-pandemic driver numbers. He added, “There’s a figure it out attitude in the school transportation world. And I believe that if that mindset continues, we’re going to be all right.”