Athletes in a school district in Arizona will have to find alternative transportation to games, as district-provided buses will no longer be available.
The Kyrene School District in Tempe, Ariz., confirmed to local outlet ABC15 that it will not offer transportation via buses for athletic events for the 2025-26 school year. The district stated that, with 15 bus driver positions unfilled, there is insufficient staff to support the afternoon bus routes and athletics transportation.
The number of bus drivers around the nation has been decreasing for more than a decade. Ahead of the 2009 school year, approximately 290,000 bus drivers were employed by elementary and secondary schools across the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute. By 2019, that number had fallen by more than 60,000. During this time, public school enrollment grew by 1.4 million kids…