A planning guide for district transportation directors
School districts transport roughly 26 million students every day, more than half the K-12 student population, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The first day of school is the highest-visibility moment in a transportation department’s year, and the conditions that determine how it goes are set weeks before buses roll.
Fall back-to-school transportation planning is a sequence of interdependent decisions: bell times drive routes, routes drive driver assignments, driver assignments depend on who is actually available, and all of it needs to reach families before day one. When any piece is late, the rest gets compressed.
The Staffing Picture Has Not Fully Recovered
The driver shortage that intensified after 2020 has not resolved. According to the Economic Policy Institute, there were roughly 21,200 fewer school bus drivers employed in August 2025 than in August 2019 — a 9.5 percent decline. Data from the AP-NORC 2025 State of School Transportation Report revealed that 81 percent of administrators reported bus driver shortages in their districts.Route structures built assuming last year’s full driver roster may not hold. Confirming who is returning, which commercial drivers license (CDL) and endorsement renewals are current, and which positions still need to be filled before route assignments are finalized avoids rework in August.
81% of administrators reported bus driver shortages in their districts.
(AP-NORC, 2025 State of School Transportation Report)
Student Data Has to Be Current Before Route Work Starts
Addresses change, students transfer, grade levels advance, and transportation eligibility flags go stale over the summer. Routes built without current data data create September problems: wrong stops, missed riders, and eligibility disputes that take weeks to resolve.
A data cleanup pass early in the planning window, pulling current enrollment, addresses, grade levels, and eligibility flags from the Student Information System, gives route builders accurate inputs before any stop placement begins. Specialized transportation needs (IEPs, McKinney-Vento, medical accommodations) take the longest to accommodate and are best addressed first, not fit in at the end.
Clear Family Communication Delivers First-Week Wins
Families want to know where the stop is and when the bus arrives before the first day. Stop assignments and estimated pickup times sent at least a week ahead give parents time to plan. A parent app with stop lookup and live bus tracking lets families get answers when they need them.
First-week adjustments are normal at this scale, but solid pre-planning (current student data, confirmed stops, families informed before Day 1) reduces how many there are. When issues do come up, districts that have first-week support in place (phone coverage, ride-along assignments, clear authority to adjust routes) resolve them faster and with less disruption.
Get the Full Planning Checklist
EZRouting’s Back-to-School Readiness Guide covers each of these planning areas in detail: student data, specialized transportation, fleet readiness, driver roster, scenario planning, family communication, and first-week reporting.
Download the guide to see how EZRouting supports each step in a single system.