ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Anne Arundel County is struggling to find bus drivers and teachers for the start of the school year on August 29.
It's estimated about 44 bus routes will be out of service, forcing families to find other means of transportation for students.
Click here for the current bus list schedule.
"We anticipated the number of outages would be about the same as it was last year with that and that's exactly where we are," said Anne Arundel County Public Schools Superintendent Bob Mosier.
Last year, there were hiring bonuses and incentives. Those have gone away for the most part and now drivers aren't signing up.
"Forty-four buses that don't currently have drivers," Mosier said. "We have some drivers in the pipeline. We're hoping that they passed there test quickly and we can get them onboarded with our contractors and get them on the road."
Kristi Adresky, who has a son who attends Chesapeake High School, said bus service is essential for their family.
"My son doesn't have a AM bus or a PM bus at all," Adresky said. "So we're all the way at the begging of the school district of Chesapeake High School. Now I'm going to drive all the way down Mountain Road and me and my husband work. So how are we supposed to resolve this?
Because some of the routes have changed and the pay is less, school officials say drivers are choosing other venues like Amazon or Walmart.
"We're all in the same boat, we're all trying to fix the problem," Mosier said. "It is a difficult, it is a frustrating problem."
Meanwhile, the school system has 351 classroom teacher vacancies impacting all clusters and grade levels.
As result, class sizes are expected to increase.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools recently released their strategy to tackle the teacher shortage issue.
