Representative Mike Sparks floats proposal to reduce minimum age of school bus drivers

A stock image of school buses.

A Tennessee legislator has proposed reducing the minimum age for school bus drivers from 25 to 21 to help school districts find more qualified bus drivers to cover routes.

Representative Mike Sparks (Photo by Tennessee General Assembly)

According to Rep. Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna, who shared his proposal with Rutherford County Schools leaders during Tuesday’s Board of Education work session meeting, education leaders across the state have recently expressed support for the idea. He said Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents Executive Director Gary Lilly also “seems to be in favor” of the proposal, among others.

While the state raised the minimum age to 25 in 2018 after a 2016 school bus crash in Chattanooga that killed six students, Sparks said that lowering the minimum age to 21 would align with Kentucky’s school bus policies. He added that other states like California, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi even allow 18-year-old drivers to take over routes. He said his proposal could help school districts struggling with bus driver shortages.

“I think this would help with the shortage and give some young people an opportunity to find a career,” he told the board when floating the idea, adding that the legislation will be introduced this year.

However, board members questioned whether such a move would increase insurance rates for district buses due to the fact that premiums are often more expensive for younger drivers.

“Maybe an owner or driver could speak to that [more],” Sparks said in response to that concern.

In addition to discussions about lowering the minimum age for bus drivers, Sparks said he would also like to see a “mentorship program” at districts, where each driver would have a mentor assigned to them to help them deal with the stress of the job.

“Maybe there's somebody he could reach out to, or she could reach out to, to just kind of decompress,” he said, noting that some districts have also floated the idea of enlisting school bus “monitors” to alleviate concerns about student misbehavior.

According to a report from WKRN Nashville, Rutherford County Schools leaders have reported that the district is not currently dealing with a shortage as other districts have, adding that they believe the district is doing fine under the current system.  

“It fluctuates throughout the year, but we have all but one of our routes covered currently and expect to have that one filled in the next few days,” RCS Communications Officer James Evans said in an email to WKRN. “So, we’re in great shape currently. We contract with multiple bus owners/contractors to provide our service.”