The start of the new school year is just about a month away, and many school districts are having trouble hiring the help they need to get students to and from school.
One West Michigan school district reporting a school bus driver shortage is Rockford Public Schools, and they say they're not alone.
"It isn't a budget issue," Assistant Superintendent of Finance Mike Cuneo says. "It's a supply issue
He says the district is about ten bus drivers short this year.
"Over the last 5 years, there's been some new regulations in terms of people who want to become (a bus driver) to qualify," Cuneo says.
More steps and tests involved to get certified means it'll take more time to get behind the wheel, and that means the district had to make some hard decisions in terms of how they cover their ground.
"Now we've been able to make up for the difference because we shrunk routes," he says. "We've taken away some routes, combined some routes and combined some stops in certain areas. Ideally, it's not the best situation."
Dean Transportation contracts bus drivers for school districts across Michigan, and their site lists dozens of openings. There are multiple in school systems across West Michigan.
"Clearly there has been a labor shortage for several years," President and CEO Kellie Dean says.
He says hiring bus drivers has been a challenge in the past, and the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the problem because of school closures.
"In our business, we had a good number of folks who were veteran bus drivers, for 30 plus years, who decided during the pandemic to retire," he says.
Dean says they have seen more applicants put in their resumes lately, and he's optimistic that the company will fill these openings by the start of the school year. To help applicants get their first paycheck, Dean Transportation is covering the cost of training programs.
Rockford Public Schools does their hiring in house, and Cuneo hopes to get back to their full staff soon, which would be about 70 people.
"As we get more (school bus drivers), we'll implement more routes to ease some of that frustration," he says.
Both Cuneo and Dean agree that a school bus driver is an integral part of a school district.
"You want to make sure you have the the sufficient staff and equipment to transport students safely," Cuneo says.
"Wherever we live and work, we want to be a part of," Dean says. "We want to be part of each of the school systems and the families were responsible for."
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