Several school districts across the Puget Sound are impacted by the national bus driver shortage.
Bus drivers are often the first adult that many students meet to start their school day.
To make sure students get to class and home safely, many families often depend on these essential drivers, especially those who may have limited resources at home.
However, the future of this resource is facing a significant challenge as many school districts continue to navigate the national bus driver shortage.
“It’s really significant,” said Melanie Gray, a Kent bus driver.
KIRO 7 News received data from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which showed the number of bus drivers hired by school districts across the state. The office said the data does not include contractors.
According to the data, the number of bus drivers in Everett Public Schools increased over the last four years.
For Tacoma Public Schools, the number of drivers went up and down, however, that wasn’t the case for several other school districts.
Federal Way and Olympia saw a decline in a three-year span with a slight uptick last year.
But Kent and Renton saw a steady decline in the last four years.
The data did not have information on Seattle Public Schools.
Gray, who has been a bus driver for about two decades, said the shortage is forcing more drivers to pick up additional routes to make students get to class safely.
“If a bus driver is out, it can affect everything. Their route has to be covered. Those kids have to be picked up and dropped off,” she said. “The time crunch is already there. I mean I drive four schools non-stop. To add additional pieces in there, it’s really difficult to make it all happen.”
KIRO 7 News spoke with Jason Powell, president of Teamsters 763, which represents more than 1,000 bus drivers working for school districts in Kent, Lake Washington, Highline, Edmonds, Sultan, and Lake Stevens.
Powell said he believes many school districts are not doing enough marketing to recruit drivers.
“In an environment where there’s already a shortage of commercial drivers nationwide, school districts are competing with a diminishing number of people who want to be commercial drivers,” he said. “I don’t believe school districts do a very good job advertising out in the communities about how good these jobs are.”
“It is severe enough that there are districts that will start the year and will have open vacant routes that they do not have bus drivers to fill,” he added.
However, the shortage has improved since the pandemic, he shared.
Gray told KIRO 7 News that the shortage is caused by several issues, including low pay, the additional workload, the split-shift work schedules, etc.
“The pay has not kept up with inflation,” she shared.
While Gray is passionate about her students, she said more students have been acting out over the years.
“The behaviors have really escalated and there’s no accountability for them,” she said. “You’re driving 60, 70 kids all day long and they’re being really disrespectful to you. And you try to contact parents and parents are sometimes no help.”
We also spoke with several parents, who were waiting at their bus stops with their young kids, about the shortage.
“We rely heavily on the bus stop every day to get them to and from school. So it’s a peace of mind they’re off and they will be back later,” said Nicole Philen, a mother. “Bus drivers are super important. Public transportation, a lot of people rely on them every day. So, if there’s no bus system then that puts a lot of other parents out on a limb to figure out what they’re going to do for their kids.”
KIRO 7 News reached out to Renton School District, Kent School District, Federal Way Public Schools, Olympia School District, and Everett School District to learn more about how academic leaders are navigating the shortage, their recruitment efforts, and the challenges they face.
We are still waiting to hear back from several districts as of Wednesday, however, the Olympia School District shared the following response:
“The Olympia School District hires and trains bus drivers throughout the school year. All of our drivers are compensated as they undergo training. The largest challenge that most school districts face when hiring bus drivers is that it is not a full-time job. Handling student management while driving can also be a unique challenge that all drivers face.
Over the past year, our district has lost six drivers to retirement, a significantly higher number than we would typically have in a given school year. That being said, we are currently onboarding five new drivers and our Transportation Department has been working diligently over the summer to streamline bus routes and stops.”