“Sorry, but we're short on staff.” Seems as if we hear these words just about everywhere. Certainly, we've heard them in the education community, especially regarding transportation, that is to say, bus drivers.
Lee Unger, our Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA) Foundation Liaison, is a Certified Illinois School Bus instructor. He's dialed back some of his responsibilities through ROE #26, which has hired two new instructors to cover the extremely onerous process of certifying applicants. To get a more in-depth understanding of the problems with getting bus drivers, Lee shared these insights about why fewer people apply for driver positions.
First, some people simply don't want to handle the responsibility of transporting children, knowing the stresses involved in having children's lives in their hands.
Second, many people have heard horror stories of undisciplined and unruly children on bus routes.
Why would anyone want to drive a bus with kids like that? But Unger said that these instances are rare. Certainly as educators, we have encountered discipline issues in the classroom, so one could expect similar instance on a bus, but they aren't nearly as common as one would expect.
Third, bus driving is essentially a part-time job, requiring being available early in the morning for a couple of hours and again in the afternoon for a couple of hours. Few people have work schedules that would accommodate such a fragmented day.
That's why many drivers are retirees who have the time, but even then, remarked Unger, retirees like their free time and don't want the commitment that comes from the school calendar. “It's like milking cows,” he said. “The job's gotta be done.”
Fourth, and most important, the state of Illinois has some of the most stringent requirements for prospective bus drivers of any other state, certainly ranking in the top three states in the nation. Unger told the story of training a police officer who had a pilot's license. He said that the process of obtaining his bus driving license was more difficult that the process of licensing to fly a plane.
Besides the background check, the fingerprinting, and the physical, the federal government mandates “entry level training.” Illinois adds another layer of “initial training.” It doesn't cost the prospective driver anything. The ROE provides the theory class, which is billed to the prospective school. There is no cost for anything except for the fee to the state, and most schools reimburse the driver after they qualify. There is no requirement that a school district pay prospective drivers while in training, especially since the districts do not get any reimbursement from the state in their transportation account.
However, most districts try to cover some if not all costs, especially now with the high demand for drivers. Some can work the training around an existing job, but if they can't do that, they might take 30 to 60 days before achieving full certification. Furthermore, having a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) doesn't automatically qualify anyone; drivers also have to earn a “School Bus Permit.”
Unger added that training consists of two levels: “theory,” which involves classroom instruction, usually at the ROE, and “behind the wheel,” which obviously is hands-on driving.
When asked about drivers for extra-curricular activities, Unger replied that regular bus route drivers are unavailable for many of these trips because of their morning and afternoon routes. Therefore, extra drivers often have to be hired to handle these trips, which compounds the problem of finding qualified drivers. And because of the growing requirement for shuttle bus services for afternoon sports practices in spread-out rural districts, even more drivers may be necessary. Plus, school districts do not get reimbursed for providing shuttle bus services.
Rumors, federal and state requirements, and expenses all contribute to making the process of driving a bus for school children much more demanding than it was when many of us were riding to school back in the middle of the 20th Century. So, the next time you complain about people not wanting to work, especially as a school bus driver, know that there's more to the story that you thought.
