Mike Bacon came to the Fox C-6 Service Center in Arnold last week to see if he would be able to help the Fox C-6 School District provide bus transportation for more students this school year.
Fox C-6 held a bus driver recruitment fair on July 29, providing potential drivers with the chance to drive a school bus and submit an application.
Bacon, 36, of St. Louis County said he attended the fair because his girlfriend has children who attend Fox C-6 schools, and she recently received a notice that said the district will not be able to provide bus transportation for all students this school year. Fox C-6 is scheduled to start the 2026-2027 school year on Aug. 25.
Bacon said he is an aviation maintenance technician at West Star Aviation in East Alton, Ill., and he recently started working there on Fridays through Sundays.
“With me switching to weekends, that afforded me time off during the week, and we got a notice that the school district had to expand its non-transportation zones,” Bacon said. “I was like maybe I could (drive a bus) during the week and maybe that would help.”
Due to a lack of drivers, the district established no-transportation zones for 11 of its 17 elementary, middle and high schools. On July 29, Gary Cross, Fox C-6 transportation director, said the district does not know how many students will not be provided bus service for the 2026-2027 school year as the district continues to hire drivers and waits for final enrollment numbers and requests for transportation services.
Even with the no-transportation zones, Fox C-6 is expected to provide transportation service for most of the approximately 6,700 students who have requested to ride a bus either to school, home from school or both. Fox C-6 anticipates having about 9,700 students for the 2026-2027 school year.
Fox C-6 is one of the Jefferson County school districts to report having no-transportation zones for the upcoming school year. The Crystal City, De Soto and Dunklin R-5 school districts also will have no-transportation zones, and the Rockwood School District in St. Louis County also has no-transportation zones.
On July 29, Hillsboro R-3 School District officials said it was too early to know if their district will have no-transportation zones this school year.
The Festus R-6, Grandview R-2, Jefferson R-7, Northwest and Windsor C-1 school districts reported not having no-transportation zones.
Despite establishing no-transportation zones, which typically are 1 mile from a school, most Jefferson County students will have access to bus transportation. State statute allows school districts to create no-transportation zones up to 3.5 miles from a school.
“Like school districts across Missouri and the nation, recruiting qualified bus drivers remains an ongoing challenge,” Festus R-6 official said. “However, we believe that creating a positive work environment, listening to employee feedback, offering competitive compensation and providing opportunities for additional earnings will continue to help us recruit and retain quality employees.”
Transportation issues
According to a 2025 report from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that was conducted in partnership with HopSkipDrive, a school rideshare company, 80 percent of the country’s school districts have had transportation services affected by bus driver shortages.
Cross said driver shortages have been an issue for about the last decade, and the issue became more problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August 2019, there were more than 223,000 U.S. school bus drivers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The research group reported in August 2025 that there were only 202,000 drivers, a 9.5 percent decrease.
“COVID sent it off the edge, but it has been heading this way for the last 10 years,” Cross said. “It is harder to recruit young people into (driving). Our average age for a bus driver is 55. There are not a lot of young people coming into our ranks.”
Cross said Fox C-6 is expected to have 61 bus drivers for this school year, and it would need at least eight more drivers to transport all students requesting to ride the bus. He said the district’s no-transportation zones average about a half-mile for elementary schools and about 1 1/2 to 2 miles for middle and high schools, and Fox C-6 typically reduces the zones throughout the school year as more drivers are hired.
Crystal City Superintendent Taylor Massa said her district has three bus drivers, and it is able to provide transportation to all of the 125 eligible students.
However, the district’s no-transportation zone makes about 200 of the district’s anticipated 600 students ineligible to receive transportation services this school year, which begins on Aug. 25.
De Soto anticipates as many as 1,485 students using its buses. The district employs 23 full-time drivers.
Dunklin R-5 officials said the district had 1,300 of its anticipated 1,700 students request transportation service as of July 24. The officials said about 70 students are not eligible due to living inside a no-transportation zone this school year, which begins on Aug. 26.
Dunklin R-5 reported it anticipates having 15 bus drivers for the school year, but on July 24, four candidates were in the early stages of training to become drivers. District officials said it would need at least two more drivers and equipment to be able to provide transportation for all students.
Festus R-6 officials said it employs 26 bus drivers to provide transportation services to the more than 2,000 students who requested transportation. The district anticipates having 3,600 students this school year, which starts on Aug. 24.
Grandview R-2 reported it has 11 bus drivers. Last year, the district transported 310 students by bus.
Hillsboro R-3 officials said as of July 30, 2,031 of its anticipated 2,920 students have requested transportation services this school year, which begins on Aug. 24.
Jefferson R-7 Superintendent David Haug said his district has nine bus drivers and was able to provide transportation for the 434 students who requested the service last school year. He said the district anticipates having 1,030 students this school year, which begins on Aug. 25, and Jefferson R-7 anticipates providing bus service to all eligible students.
Northwest has a contract with First Student, which will need 83 drivers to provide transportation services to the more than 4,000 students requesting to ride the bus, school officials said. The district anticipates having about 5,600 students this school year, which starts on Aug. 24.
Windsor C-1 Assistant Superintendent Mike Rickermann said his district will be able to provide transportation for all of the approximately 1,600 students who have requested it this school year. He said the district employs 28 drivers, and Windsor anticipates having 2,750 students this school year, which begins on Aug. 25.
Rockwood, which has had no-transportation zones since the 2021-2022 school year, had 12,336 students request transportation services last year. Officials said the districts anticipate having 18,212 students, and it should be able to provide transportation for all eligible students with its 91 drivers this school year, which starts Aug. 24.
Scott Speer, Rockwood transportation director, said the district would need 30 more bus drivers to be able to transport all students this school year.
Recruiting
Cross said Fox C-6 has held driver recruitment fairs for the last four years.
Fox C-6 officials said six people attended this year’s fair, and three people applied to become drivers.
Bacon said he was more comfortable applying to be a driver after driving a bus through a course set up on the Service Center’s parking lot.
“It was intimidating because of how long it (the bus) is,” said Bacon, who previously drove an ambulance for the St. Louis Fire Department. “I am no stranger to driving larger vehicles, but not one that is 37 feet long. It was challenging but cool. It was easier to drive than I thought it would be.”
Kraig Maness, 59, of Oakville said he attended the fair because he is planning to retire after working 35 years for the St. Louis Fire Department. He said he plans to apply to be a driver in the future.
“I have always liked to stay busy,” he said. “I have driven a firetruck for 25 years, so I don’t think I will have a hard time maneuvering (a bus).”
County school districts and Rockwood are continuously recruiting drivers and substitute drivers to cover bus route and provide transportation for athletic teams and clubs. District officials said they use a combination of traditional print advertisements, social media, and banners and signage at district buildings as part of their recruiting tools.
Hourly wages vary throughout the county and Rockwood. The starting wage at Crystal City is $21.87; De Soto is $18.50; Dunklin is $20, Festus R-6 is $24; Fox C-6 is $20.33, Grandview is $28.63; Hillsboro R-3 is $21; Jefferson R-7 is $17.72; Windsor $22.06; and Rockwood is $21.74.
Some of the districts offer signing bonuses with De Soto paying $1,000; Dunklin paying $500; Jefferson R-7 paying $1,250; and Rockwood paying $1,000. Grandview pays a retention bonus in June and November of $500.
Branon Sebastian, who drove a Fox C-6 bus for three years before becoming the district’s safety and training coordinator for the last five years, said one of the biggest hurdles to recruiting drivers is dispelling myths about driving a bus.
“I tell people driving a bus is not as hard as you think,” he said. “I think once people start driving, they get past the intimidation of it being such a large vehicle.
“Some people also may be intimidated by being responsible for the students and worried about student behavior because of things they hear. A lot of what you hear is exaggerated.”
Cross said there are plenty of reasons to become a bus driver.
“It helps your community out,” he said. “It will help traffic out. A lot of things people complain about with traffic at the schools, traffic blocking intersections, kids standing out at bus stops and kids having to walk (to school). Being a driver helps your community and school district.”