Shortage of school bus drivers reported nationwide

School districts across the country are reporting an unprecedented bus driver shortage causing back to school troubles for districts large and small.

“We’ve had almost 18 months of a break here that a lots of these districts who ended up not keeping their bus drivers on the payroll, they found other jobs elsewhere,” Steven Simmons, President of the National Association of Pupil Transportation said.

In Georgia, the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System was short by more than 110 drivers to start the school year leaving about 5,000 kids unable to take a bus to school.

In an effort to combat the shortage school districts are calling back former employees and retirees hosting more job fairs and looking to add more hours, pay, and benefits.

Some school districts are considering changing bell times. Instead of everyone leaving school at he same time they’re considering staggering it out to spread all those students out.