While Deer Valley Unified School District is battling the same pandemic-driven bus driver shortage as other districts, there’s another shortage problem Deer Valley isn’t worrying about — teachers.
DVUSD at its Oct. 13 governing board meeting reported 25 drivers are currently needed for the district’s bus routes, and approved an emergency procurement to enlist charter bus services to get students to and from school. With 10 vendors pressed into service as well other trained district employees putting their normal duties on hold to get behind some wheels, it has led to a cost to the district of $293,317 so far.
The bus driver shortage is following similar local and national trends. In September, Peoria Unified School District reported a loss of nearly 35% of its drivers since 2019, and the National Association for Pupil Transportation says 51% of survey respondents described their driver shortage as “severe” or “desperate.”
