More than 90% of school districts nationwide are still reporting bus driver shortages, and in Ohio that's continuing in part because public schools must transport non-public school students. There are 7,000 fewer bus drivers than before the pandemic, but some districts are running more routes for private and charter school students than their own students.
Before the pandemic, Ohio employed 25,706 active bus drivers. But by August 2025, that number had plummeted to just 18,817. Doug Palmer, who consulted on school transportation for the Ohio School Boards Association until last year, said in an interview there are several reasons why.
"It really started in 2018. That was when more stores started doing home delivery. People that want to drive for a living have other choices now," Palmer said. He added that bus drivers are paid less than the median American worker, and often are part-time with unpredictable schedules. And the bus driver workforce is aging rapidly, with more than half of drivers over 55.
Palmer added that since state funding for school bus purchases was eliminated in 2009, districts have had to absorb nearly $1.7 billion to replace those buses.
More than 66,500 nonpublic and charter school students were bused by public schools in the 2022-23 school year, according to the most recent data available. That's brought longer bus routes, and Palmer said some districts are operating more routes for non-public students than for their own kids. And there's also the matter of how school buildings set their schedules.
“Everybody wants to start around 8 o'clock. Nobody wants to start at 10 o'clock when there's buses available.," Palmer said. "So there's that time crunch that everybody wants to go at the same time.”
That's led some schools to consider other options, such as paying parents to transport their kids. But Palmer said that's costly.
“When the minimum was $250 for payment in lieu of transportation, the state reimbursed the districts $187 of that. So there was funding from the state to the school, to the parents," Palmer said.
In the 2023-24 school year, the Cleveland Municipal School paid the families of more than 2,700 students to transport them to school. The Columbus City Schools did the same for the families of more than 2,500 students.
Attorney General Dave Yost sued the Columbus City Schools for declaring more than a thousand private and charter school students ineligible for transportation during the previous school year. In October 2024, the Ohio Supreme Court declined to order the district to transport the students, and delivered a similar ruling in August when Yost asked for another emergency order.
Columbus City Schools are considering eliminating all busing and providing passes for public transit for students. And state lawmakers are looking at other transportation ideas, including countywide busing systems.
