U.S. school bus driver count drops 21,000 since 2019

The national pool of school bus drivers shrank by 21,176 positions between August 2019 and August 2025.

Employment levels fell from 223,252 to 202,076, a decline of nearly 10% over the six-year period. This drop has strained local operations and increased the frequency of missed pickups for students across the country.

The shortage has forced specific districts to alter their daily schedules. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, thousands of students switched to remote learning for three days in April 2026 due to a lack of available drivers. Meanwhile, the largest school district in South Carolina issued more than 7,000 delay notifications to parents during the first 10 weeks of the 2025-2026 school year.

In Waterbury, Connecticut, Victoria Encarnacion said her daughter was stranded outside because a scheduled bus never arrived. The student waited at multiple stops for an hour before walking home. Encarnacion said her daughter then called to say, “Mom, I quit.”

Encarnacion reported that these missed pickups occur about once a month for her daughter. She noted that the uncertainty creates daily stress for families. “As a parent, is it stressful every day not knowing if the bus is going to pick up your kid? Absolutely,” she said.

Mark Medina, a regional director with the National Association for Pupil Transportation, said drivers often face a “lose-lose situation.” He explained that while pay has improved, the job remains difficult due to split shifts and an aging workforce. Medina stated, “They’re doing the best that they can. It’s not an easy thing to transport a bus with 50 kids.”

Legislators introduced the “Driving Forward Act” in 2025 to remove a specific licensing barrier. The bill would exempt school bus drivers from the requirement to identify engine parts, a rule lawmakers say adds three to four days of training. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said this exemption would not affect safety.