Governor Cooper announces $1 million investment in training to address school bus driver shortage

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — Governor Roy Cooper has announced an investment to help tackle North Carolina’s school bus driver shortage crisis.

Cooper has allocated $1 million in federal funding to the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to enhance school bus driver training capacity.

“North Carolina desperately needs more school bus drivers and the way to get them is to pay them more and train them faster,” said Governor Cooper. “If Legislative Republicans would do their jobs and pass a strong public education budget now, we could better attack this challenge. Until then these funds are important to help get our children to and from school reliably and safely.”

One of the primary challenges identified by both school districts and the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is the extended time it takes to train newly hired bus drivers due to trainer staffing shortages and an increased number of trainees. In response, Governor Cooper has taken decisive actions to address this issue and bolster the state’s school bus driver workforce, according to a press release.

The plan includes hiring up to seven temporary trainers, one for each NCDOT region, to accelerate the training process. This investment will be utilized to employ former school bus driver trainers who have expressed interest in helping expedite training of new bus drivers.

This investment will also provide retention bonuses of up to $3,000 to current school bus driver training employees. This incentive seeks to recognize their dedication and support in staying with the state, ultimately enhancing the training capacity.