Southeast Mo. school districts work to combat bus driver shortage

SOUTHEAST MO. (KFVS) - As Heartland kids get ready to go back to school, schools are working through another year of bus driver shortages.

Jackson Assistant Superintendent Keenan Kinder said his district is no exception.

“You’ll see signs ‘Drivers Wanted’ as you go district to district to district,” said Kinder. “We’ve had to increase the number of kids on routes, make the buses more full if that’s possible, that means kids have to ride the bus longer.”

Kinder said the district needs more than 10 full time bus drivers. But just down I-55 in Sikeston, it’s a different story.

The district has been successful in finding drivers, according Sikeston Public Schools Transportation Director, Don Beck.

“We are blessed that our school district is going to start out with a couple of extra drivers,” said Beck.

Beck said there are a few reasons schools have faced a shortage in drivers over the last few years.

“The ELDT program, which is federally mandated Entry Level Driving Training program, has caused a little more delay in getting new drivers because it is a program drivers have to take before they can get a license, so that has extended it and also we have just had less applicants with the covid virus coming through,” said Beck.

Beck added that the key was getting the word out ahead of time.

“You have to start recruiting recruiting recruiting early and then prepare to figure out how to get those people into the positions,” said Beck.

In Jackson, Kinder said they have been trying to do just that.

“We’ve done all kinds of things we’ve tried unique ideas,” said Kinder. “We’ve got magnets on the busses that say if you want to drive one, give us a call. We will train people to learn how to drive a bus, we will pay for that training, I feel like we have competitive wages.”

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