School Bus Driver Shortage Strands Families
Parents across the country face missed pickups and lost school days as the number of school bus drivers keeps shrinking.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Auto Parts
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The number of school bus drivers employed across the United States fell nearly 10% between 2019 and 2025, from 223,252 in August 2019 to 202,076 in August 2025. Families in several districts have felt the shortage directly, from remote-learning days to missed pickups.
Why it matters
Once a driver earns a commercial driver's license, that credential opens doors to better-paying jobs in other industries, which pulled workers out of school transportation after the pandemic. Split shifts and changes in health risk for an older workforce make a return to pre-pandemic staffing levels difficult.
School bus drivers fell from 223,252 in August 2019 to 202,076 in August 2025, a drop of nearly 10%. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, thousands of students learned remotely for three days in April 2026 because there were not enough drivers.
The players
National Association for Pupil Transportation
A national group representing school transportation professionals that is lobbying for retirement cap waivers and tax relief to keep drivers on the job.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
The federal agency that regulates commercial motor vehicle drivers and says the proposed engine-parts exemption would not affect safety.
The details
Drivers who hold a commercial driver's license can move into other industries that pay more, and the pandemic made that exit easy for many. A 2025 bill introduced in Congress, called the Driving Forward Act, would remove the requirement that drivers identify engine parts and how they work, a rule designed more for long-haul trucking than for school buses. That requirement can add three or four extra days of training, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says the exemption would not affect safety. The National Association for Pupil Transportation is pushing for retirement cap waivers and tax relief to help drivers stay.
Timeline
August 2019: School bus driver count stood at 223,252.
2025: Lawmakers introduced a bill to remove the engine-parts training requirement for school bus drivers.
August 2025: School bus driver count fell to 202,076.
2025-2026 school year, first 10 weeks: A South Carolina district issued more than 7,000 bus delay notifications.
April 2026: Fort Wayne students learned remotely for three days due to the driver shortage.
The Home Front
The driver shortage sits inside a broader post-pandemic labor squeeze that has pushed commercial license holders toward higher-paying industries. The Driving Forward Act proposal is the federal lever now being debated to shorten the path into school bus driving.
If your child rides a school bus, check with your district about how driver shortages are affecting pickup times and whether remote-learning days are planned. Keep a backup pickup plan and a way to reach your school transportation office quickly.
The takeaway
Staffing shortages in school transportation are reaching families through missed pickups and lost school days. Keep your district's transportation contact saved and build a backup plan for mornings when the bus doesn't come.
Further reading
For more on the vehicles and components that keep school transportation running, see Auto Parts.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Investigatetv.
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