LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the past two weeks, since the first day transportation fiasco, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) Superintendent Marty Pollio has hinted at the possibility of major changes coming to their bus system.
That includes even evaluating whether the school district can continue to serve every family that wants transportation services for their kids.
At a news conference Wednesday, Pollio again asked families to understand cities across the country are dealing with very similar problems, if not worse.
"In Chicago Public Schools right now, the only students who are getting transportation are those who are guaranteed by law, meaning special education students and students who qualify for homeless services," Pollio said.
For perspective, WHAS11 News reached out to Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The school district told WHAS11 News that out of the more than 340,000 students they serve, only 17,000 (5%) of them are eligible for school bus transportation. The district said they're hundreds of bus drivers short.
A CPS spokesperson said, “While our intentional recruitment efforts have resulted in a slight uptick in the number of drivers for the coming school year, reducing route length has resulted in fewer students receiving transportation services for the upcoming school year."
Pollio said the district will take a closer look at potential longer-term fixes around fall break, saying "these challenges will continue to the point where we're going to have to evaluate [whether] we continue to provide these services for every single family."
WHAS11 News took a closer look at bigger measures out-of-state school districts are taking to alleviate their own bus driver shortages and other transportation issues.
In the Northeast, The School District of Philadelphia is paying eligible parents to drive their kids to and from school, rather than have them take the school bus.
"Parents can receive up to $300 per month, per household, if they take their children to school in the morning and in the evening," Monique Braxton, spokesperson for The School District of Philadelphia, said.
Braxton said they first rolled out the initiative as a pilot program in 2020 during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic to address their bus driver shortage. The program has expanded ever since.
"This was definitely the answer for those parents who were concerned, [and] it was also the answer to the bus driver shortage at that time," she said. "Is it the perfect way to do it? Maybe not. But I think for right now, it is working in this city."
These are just two examples of other, bigger school districts getting creative to address a burden felt nationwide.
WHAS11 News asked JCPS officials if they're considering either of these methods, to which a school district spokesperson answered in a statement: "We are discussing all options, but we have not made any decisions at this point. Right now, our main focus has been getting kids back in school."
WHAS11 News also learned Chicago Public Schools are working with their citywide bus provider to give students bus cards to pay for public transportation, at no cost to families.
In Louisville, both JCPS and the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) said the school district is paying for public bus tickets and providing them to many students, free of charge.
JCPS officials say TARC isn't able to commit to being part of the regular 'yellow' bus service because of their existing scheduled runs.
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