(WXYZ) — We are just a few weeks away from the start of the school year and getting kids to school continues to be a challenge for many districts.
Like last year, school leaders are once again dealing with a school bus driver shortage. Last year, many routes had to be rerouted or sometimes canceled due to the lack of staff.
Districts have worked tirelessly to hire enough drivers for this upcoming school year but some districts say it's once again proving to be an uphill battle.
Last year the Novi school district did not transport kids for one day out of the week due to staffing.
“Like you knew every Monday that that was your responsibility," Director of Transportation for Novi Schools Cynthia Valentine said. "Verses getting a phone call at 4 o’clock in the morning saying I don’t have anyone to take your child to school today.”
Valentine says the plan this year is to keep all routes running at least through the fall, but they are still short-staffed.
“If we have anybody that calls off, it would be a sticky situation,” she said.
Novi is still looking to hire at least five more bus drivers by the start of the school year and their district is not alone.
Utica Schools is looking to hire 20 to 30 drivers. Livonia schools are trying to hire at least six drivers and Northville Schools are looking for six to eight drivers.
These districts say some improvements have been made from last year to this year, but Katrina Morris, the executive director for the Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation says many other Michigan districts are still struggling.
“We’ve heard several districts that are 58 or more drivers short,” she said.
School districts are trying to offer better incentives for new drivers.
The Livonia School District increased pay to between $19 and $24 an hour. The starting wage at Utica Schools is now $21 an hour and at Northville, there are sign-on bonuses worth hundreds of dollars.
As the school year quickly approaches, many schools across southeast Michigan plan on holding job fairs to address the need.
If you're interested in applying to be a bus driver, click here.
