TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy today addressed the statewide school bus driver shortage and touched on many alternatives, but left out the one alternative that could work to get bus drivers back on the road.
Instead of requiring proof of job search for unemployment recipients that could send many school bus drivers back to work, Murphy said one of the options on the table, but not at this point would be to deploy the National Guard to drive students to and from school.
That’s right, the governor wouldn’t mind seeing 18-20-year-old kids filling the state’s roads with school buses instead of forcing school bus drivers off of unemployment and back into the driver’s seat.
Another obstacle for backfilling empty school bus drivers would be to shorten the time it takes to get certified which is technically 60 days, but with backlogs in the system, could take much longer now.
“The challenge is real,” Murphy said. “I hear it from educators, moms, and dads…anything we can do that preserves safety.”
Some school districts in the country have begun paying parents a stipend to drive their own kids to school.