The serious school bus driver shortage in the U.S. right now is increasingly impacting different communities and causing problems for students and families. There are some schools that have had to close down as a result because of that shortage, other schools are getting parents paid for driving their kids to school if they are able. In response to that offer there have been a number of parents have stepped in to help and to get their kids to school.

School officials are doing what they can to try and ease those absences but in some districts they are short more than 100+ school bus drivers. For some it is a result of protest or call in, others are simply short on drivers altogether because they need to hire more.

Parents earning $700 to drive their kids to school

For some parents that have stepped up to drive their kids to school because there is no bus driver they are able to get paid.

There is a bus driver shortage and truck driver shortage in general throughout the U.S. and it is impacting not only schooling but the charter and tour bus industry too. Hundreds of drivers are needed.

Truck companies and schools have been aggressively trying to advertise those positions and look for suitable drivers to fill the need but there is not enough to meet demand right now.

Not Enough Drivers

The school bus driver shortage means students are having their schools closed, schedules changed, and even having parents get paid to drive them. Districts around the U.S. are scrambling to deal with this issue in one area or another.

For those school bus drivers they can earn upwards of $17 or even $25 per hour if they are experienced.

In some U.S. regions they are short more than 1,000 bus drivers. Trying to find people who are willing to do the job is becoming increasingly difficult. One of the biggest problems seems to be they pay according to some. The pandemic also caused issues with some drivers being laid off or seeing less work with hybrid schooling introduced etc, and that meant they might have went looking for other positions.

For those dealing with the issue right now they say it is a major crisis that there aren't enough skilled and qualified drivers right now in the market to meet this demand for getting kids to school and meeting other transportation needs of the community.