A nationwide school bus driver shortage, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, persists in some parts of the country. But in Illinois, efforts to attract new demographics of bus drivers and make hiring easier have paid off.

Illinois school districts and transportation providers partnered with the secretary of state’s office to increase hiring and retention in the school bus driver workforce.

First Student, the largest nationwide school transportation provider, initiated the connection with Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

The shortage, the worst in decades, began in 2020 as a significant part of the bus driver workforce — elderly retirees — were among the most-affected by the virus, according to Leslie Norgren, vice president of consulting at First Student.

In a nationwide survey conducted in 2025 by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a nonpartisan research organization, and HopSkipDrive, a school rideshare company, 80% of school administrators said school bus driver shortages were a problem in their district.

Eighty-three percent of respondents said staff in their districts had to take time away from their core duties to drive school buses or manage car lines at least a few times a year. Fifty-four percent did so weekly over the period.

And 90% said they faced a growing number of students who qualify for free school transportation amid a diminishing workforce and strict financial constraints.

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According to its website, First Student is hiring for about 40 part-time driver positions across the state, from Chicago and its suburbs down to Carbondale.

But Norgren said that for now, the market has stabilized and there is no longer a shortage of bus drivers in Illinois.

“A lot of districts in Illinois outsource their transportation, and that’s always been a model in Illinois, because that’s what we do, right? That’s our core business and our expertise,” Norgren said. “We tend to be much stronger on the recruiting and retention side than at school districts whose core business is educating students.”

In Chicago’s public school district, only about 5.5% of 315,000 students are eligible for bus service under state law, according to a spokesperson for the district. To be eligible for bus service under Illinois law, kids must live more than 1.5 miles from their school or be in danger on their school route.

But that number is growing: An increase in the district’s “most vulnerable” students, those with disabilities and those in temporary living situations, is contributing to an ongoing labor shortage in the district, according to the spokesperson.

But CPS has addressed the shortage by raising driver wages, coordinating with vendors including First Student, assisting with access to public transportation, adjusting school transportation schedules and advocating for adjustments to state tests and certifications, according to the district’s spokesperson.

Spokespersons for the Decatur and Peoria public school districts declined to comment on their efforts to address the shortage. Springfield Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.

Removing hiring barriers

Giannoulias has worked with companies like First Student and school districts across the state to reduce legislative and administrative barriers to hiring.

“We’re focused on removing unnecessary barriers while keeping safety at the center of everything we do,” Giannoulias said in a statement. “Our children who depend on bus services in urban, small-town and rural communities must have bus drivers who are not only reliable, but have passed required testing that will keep them as safe as possible on their way to and from school.

“By ensuring the process is accessible and aligned with our core safety values, Illinois will have more reliable and qualified school bus drivers,” Giannoulias said.

In one major change, Giannoulias adjusted training requirements to better reflect which type of vehicle drivers operate and petitioned the federal government to waive the requirement of an under-the-hood exam.

In the exam, drivers had to identify the engine components, which doesn’t make sense today because school bus depots have mechanics and techs to do that work, Norgren said.

“They (state officials) were critical in getting that exemption in Illinois for drivers, so that helped a lot (to) open up the workforce,” Norgren said. “They helped us streamline our training, so that training was more pertinent based on the vehicle you drive.”

Giannoulias also expanded access to the commercial driver’s licensing process by adding exams administered in Spanish and allowing certain farm truck licensees to also operate school buses.

Throughout the process, safety remained a top priority, Giannoulias and Norgren said.

“We do believe that it’s important that the safety standards are met for all drivers transporting students regardless of the vehicle type,” Norgren said. “All of that is very important to the standards that we’re offering and that we believe all student transportation should meet.”

Changing the workforce

While working with Giannoulias to ease hiring requirements, First Student also worked to attract and retain drivers and build a more diverse workforce in terms of age, and added sign-on bonuses to attract a larger workforce, Norgren said.

“We’ve raised pay and benefits. We offer more flexible schedules,” Norgren said of First Student. “The last thing I would say is more education and training for our drivers as they come into the workforce. So, right, you’re creating that culture of value and care for the students.”

In Illinois, First Student operates over 6,000 buses that provide specialized and standard home-to-school transportation to hundreds of districts including Elgin, Urbana, Springfield and Rockford. In some districts, like Galesburg and Westville, the company partnered with the school district to upgrade equipment by providing electric school buses.

These changes are expected to stay in place to continue increasing and diversifying the workforce, Norgren said.

“We see these as structural changes that are long term and help the industry and directly address the challenges … as the labor market changes,” Norgren said.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.