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DeWine Not Ruling Out Ohio National Guard As School Drivers

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The bus driver shortage is so bad in some Ohio school districts that drivers are being asked to do multiple routes, and districts are drafting other school workers to drive or even considering closing down buildings.

A school bus in suburban Columbus picks up students in September 2020.
A school bus in suburban Columbus picks up students in September 2020. [Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau]
But another potential solution to do a million miles of bus routes each day in Ohio may be a possibility.

Doug Palmer, the transportation expert for the Ohio School Boards Association, estimates Ohio’s more than 600 school districts are between 5% and 12% short the drivers they need, because of retirements, illness and other absences. On a given day, that could be nearly 1,900 drivers.

Gov. Mike DeWine said he’s encouraging schools to reach out and tell the state what they need. And he noted the Ohio National Guard has been deployed in different ways throughout the pandemic.

“They’ve done all kinds of things; from give tests, give shots, work at food banks. So it’s certainly not out of the consideration that that would be a possibility,” DeWine said.

Palmer, the OSBA’s transportation expert, said he hasn’t heard of the request for ONG personnel to become drivers being made by schools to DeWine.

As many as 250 National Guard personnel are being activated to drive school vans in Massachusetts.