Ramifications of bus driver shortage fall on students, families

(NewsNation) — A national school bus driver shortage could take a toll on other areas of students’ lives, threatening attendance issues and educational setbacks, among other concerns.

The pandemic has likely exacerbated the issue, but access to transportation has been a barrier to students for some time, disproportionately so for rural, Black and Hispanic students. Without a catch-all solution in sight, some researchers say communities should get creative and work in tandem with public transportation as they rebuild one of the nation’s largest forms of mass transit.

About 88% of schools said bus driver shortages have constrained their transportation operations, according to a Hop Skip Drive State of School Transportation survey and report.

In that same survey, about two-thirds of respondents said access to transportation has affected student attendance; 61% said their school district has been grappling with chronic absenteeism.

Over time, lack of access to convenient and reliable transportation can take its toll. Students may no longer be able to attend their school of choice. White and Asian students, for example, are more likely than Black and Hispanic students to attend schools that offer a bus, said Sarah Cordes, an associate professor of Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies at Temple University. Students without reliable transportation might also become increasingly tardy, miss school altogether and miss out on extracurricular opportunities.

“Across studies, we’ve seen that kids that have a school bus are less likely to be chronically absent from school and we know that chronic absenteeism is a leading indicator of a lot of other things (such as) educational outcomes like dropout,” Cordes said.

Missing large amounts of school can cause students to fall behind academically and miss important milestones.

It’s not hard to imagine a situation where a student who has limited school bus access begins to miss one to two more days of school each month than they normally would, said Jeremy Singer, a post-doctoral research fellow at Michigan State University.

“What that means is that they’re starting to accumulate more absences,” he said. “They’re getting behind on their schoolwork. They may be feeling a little bit more disconnected from their peers and their teachers. And then those can impact ultimately what their test scores look like.”

Driving or carpooling isn’t an option for many families either, particularly for students whose primary caregivers work during the day or don’t have a car to go to and from school, Singer said.

“It compounds the challenges that families have – they don’t have those transportation resources, and also people whom they normally turn to for help are busy,” he said.

The school bus shortage happened, in part, because of struggles to recruit drivers who may be rejecting low pay and instead opting for more appealing private-sector jobs, the Hop Skip survey found.

To make do, some schools have asked teachers and administrators to drive buses and help cover routes, while others have resorted to canceling classes until bussing operations were under control.

“It’s always been an issue, in part, due to the limited hours… (and) finding someone who is willing to work that split shift where they have a morning, chunk of work and an afternoon chunk of work, willing to take on behavior management of students on the bus,” said Phillip Burgoyne-Allen, an associate with the Electric School Bus Initiative in the Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

Last week, Kentucky’s largest school district, Jefferson County Public Schools, closed its campuses for several days after what Superintendent Marty Pollio called “a transportation disaster.”

Revamped bus routes spurred by the driver shortage caused delays that meant some children didn’t arrive back home until nearly 10 p.m.

The delays in Kentucky were out of the ordinary for the district, but for other students — especially in rural areas — long bus rides or a lack of transportation is the norm.

“Whether we’re talking about cities, or states like Michigan that have lots of both urban and rural areas…transportation really matters for attendance,” Cordes said.

Creating safer conditions for students to use more active modes of transportation like walking or biking could also help, Burgoyne-Allen said. Depending on the community, this could also involve repairing sidewalks, paving roads, or investing in bike lanes.

Some schools are incentivizing parents to help be part of the solution. Chicago Public Schools, for example, is offering as much as $500 per month to families of so-called diverse learners and students in temporary living situations who find their own transportation to school.

Students must maintain at least a 20% attendance rate during the academic year to be eligible for the financial incentives, according to the school district.

District officials are also offering pre-loaded $35 monthly public transportation cards to students in selective programs who qualify for transportation but may not have access to it this year.

Partnering with public transport is a good option for some but might not be realistic for those in more suburban or rural areas.

In some cases, families have turned to ride-hailing options that allow parents to request trips for their children. Not unlike Uber or Lyft, companies like Hop Skip Drive, Kango and Zum, transport kids to school and extracurriculars.

Some of those companies also partner with districts to provide transportation for students with special needs, experiencing homelessness or living in foster care, according to the nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners.

About a third of children ages 5-17 travel to school on a school bus, while the majority travel in personal vehicles, like cars. Fewer students use other modes like walking, biking, and public transit, according to the Federal Highway Administration.