School bus driver shortage solutions for contractors: recruit, train and keep

Ask any school bus contractor what keeps them up at night and the answer is rarely buses. It's drivers. Routes are won, the district wants more, and there aren't enough people with the license, the endorsements and the patience to drive them. A large company can absorb a few empty seats in the driver room. A contractor with fifteen buses can't.

This guide puts school bus driver shortage solutions for contractors in one place: what the numbers say, where to find drivers, how to train people who don't have a CDL yet, and — just as important — how to keep the drivers you already have.

How big is the school bus driver shortage?

The shortage is real and has lasted years. An Economic Policy Institute analysis, reported by NEA Today in December 2023, counted about 192,400 K-12 school bus drivers in September 2023 — 15.1% fewer than in September 2019. In a 2025 survey by NORC at the University of Chicago for HopSkipDrive, 81% of the school administrators who responded called bus driver shortages a problem, 46% a major one, and 26% said they'd cut or shortened routes because of them. (That administrator survey wasn't a random sample, so treat the percentages as a picture rather than a precise count.)

For a contractor, the shortage cuts both ways. Districts that can't staff their own routes contract more of them out — but only to companies that can actually run them.

Why the shortage hits contractors hard

• The job is part-time by design. Two runs a day with a gap in the middle is hard to live on unless the pay or the hours make up for it.
• The barrier to entry is high. A CDL with passenger and school bus endorsements, a medical card, background checks and drug testing all take time — and good applicants take other jobs while they wait.
• Many drivers are older. EPI found most state and local school bus drivers in 2021 were 50 or older, so retirements keep coming.
• Every gap shows. One driver out on a 15-bus operation is a route the owner drives.

Solution 1: recruit in more places

The people who make good school bus drivers are often not looking for "driver" jobs. Write ads for them:

• Parents who want to work while their children are at school, with summers off.
• Retirees — from the military, police, trucking, teaching — who want a few hours and a purpose.
• People already near students: cafeteria staff, paraprofessionals and aides who might add a driving shift.
• Former drivers, yours and others'. A driver who left on good terms is the fastest hire there is.
• Your own drivers' networks, with a referral bonus program.

Then measure. Record where every applicant heard of you — an ad, a sign on a bus, a referral, a walk-in — and after a season, spend more on what produced drivers who stayed.

Solution 2: build a school bus driver training pipeline

If you only hire people who already hold a school bus CDL, you're competing with everyone else for the same few. Training your own drivers widens the pool:

1. 1Recruit for the person, not the license. Hire for patience, reliability and a clean driving record; teach the rest.
2. 2Pay for training, or pay during it. A paid trainee is far more likely to finish than one studying on their own time.
3. 3Use a registered training provider. Since February 7, 2022, first-time applicants for the passenger (P) or school bus (S) endorsement — and for a first Class A or B CDL — must complete entry-level driver training (ELDT) from a provider on FMCSA's Training Provider Registry before the skills test. Some companies partner with a registered school; others register to train their own people.
4. 4Know the testing options in your state. FMCSA has granted an exemption — renewed through November 28, 2026, with a further renewal requested — that lets states skip the engine compartment ("under the hood") part of the skills test for school bus applicants, who are then limited to driving school buses within the state. Ask your state licensing agency whether it uses it.
5. 5Add your state's school bus course and your own company training, then ride-alongs on real routes.
6. 6Run trainees in groups with start dates in spring and summer, so new drivers are ready before the first day of school, not after.

Track where every trainee is — permit, training, test, background check, road test — so you know in June how many drivers you'll have in September.

Solution 3: keep the drivers you have

Every driver who stays is one you don't have to find. The ideas that matter most: fair pay for the work you require (the pre-trip, the post-trip, the child check), steady hours, the same route and bus where possible, quick answers on time off, recognition, and a mentor for every new driver's first month. Our guide to school bus driver retention ideas goes through them by cost, with a plan for the school year.

Solution 4: stretch the drivers you have, carefully

• Use split runs well. A driver with only a morning run may take another route's afternoon run.
• Keep a real substitute list, so one call-out doesn't cancel a route — see substitute coverage and a call-out rule.
• Qualify office staff and mechanics to drive in a pinch — with the same license, checks and training as any driver.
• Talk to the district early when you're short: staggered bell times, combined routes or a later start can be easier to agree in July than on the first day of school.

A 90-day plan

Doing it in FleetCommander

FleetCommander's HR section (being switched on company by company, for people with HR access) keeps the whole pipeline in one place:

• Hiring is a board with a column for each stage — Applied, Phone screen, Interview, Road test, Background check, Offer, Hired, Not hired — and Stages lets you rename them or Add stage for your own, such as Permit or ELDT training. Each card shows how many days the person has been in their stage.
• Each applicant's Where they heard of you (Indeed, Referral, Sign on a bus, Walk-in… or your own words) shows which sources bring people in. Their page keeps Notes and Files, and Add as a driver turns a hire into a driver record.
• Certifications tracks each person's in-service training, drug test, physical and the rest, with Expired, Missing and Expiring soon first; a driver's license and medical card dates come with reminders.
• Leaving records Why they're leaving and Would you hire them again?, so you can see why drivers go — and a returning applicant's page on Hiring shows it.

On the driver side, Driver onboarding shares your training videos and handbook on every driver's phone with their progress; training days go on the Schedule linked to the driver, who is told; and with driver attendance on, a route whose driver is off is flagged Needs a substitute with suggested drivers for those days. Recommend a driver on a route suggests drivers who live near it and are available at its times.

Ava (Beta), the assistant in FleetCommander, answers List the applicants, Applicants from Indeed and Who left this year? when you have HR access. See her page.

Related reading: HR software for school bus companies, in-service training tracking, the driver qualification file checklist and, if you're just getting started, how to start a school bus contracting company.