FRANKFORT — School bus drivers could soon get help in dealing with unruly students under a bill passed by the state House of Representatives on Friday. 

Sponsored by Rep. Emily Callaway, R-Louisville, House Bill 446 would require local boards of education to adopt a transportation policy that includes behavioral standards for riding school buses and a clear disciplinary procedure for when students or their parents misbehave. 

The policies would need to outline escalating consequences for student or parent misconduct, up to losing bus-riding privileges for severe or repeated misconduct.

Parents and students would also have to sign a document acknowledging the transportation policy within seven days of the first day of the student’s attendance at school.

Not signing the document could result in the student losing bus-riding privileges until the document is signed.

“Drivers have a huge responsibility, and we should respect and address concerns thoroughly,” Callaway said. 

She added a section to the bill that would require districts to regulate parental conduct around school buses because school administrators requested it. The purpose is to provide “a clear notice to parents that aggressive behavior will have severe consequences and will not be tolerated,” Callaway said.

Students could lose their bus-riding privileges if their parents or guardians don’t behave. Examples of parent behavior would be injuring or threatening someone on a school bus, threatening or harming a school bus driver specifically and obstructing operations.

The busing crisis in Jefferson County Public Schools was a major impetus for the bill.

In November, the district was forced to cancel nearly 100 routes after bus drivers organized a sickout and 143 called off work. Among their biggest concerns was student behavior, according to drivers and John Stovall, president of the bus drivers’ union, Teamsters 783.

But bus discipline problems are not limited to Louisville: “As we unfolded this problem, we found the whole state is having this issue,” Rep. Kevin Bratcher, R-Louisville, said on the House floor on Friday.

The bill passed nearly unanimously on the House floor. Rep. Mark Hart, R-Falmouth, was the sole “no.” The measure now moves to the Senate for consideration. 

What would HB 446 do?

If the bill is enacted, the Kentucky Department of Education would be required to develop a model transportation policy that school boards can use as a basis for their own policies. Under the bill, each district’s policy would need to include certain elements, including: 

• Student and parental behavior standards and a discipline structure of increasing consequences for bus misbehavior.
• Procedures for documenting and investigating bus behavior problems and bullying, including details of how drivers can file written or electronic complaints about student or parental behavior.
• A procedure for bus drivers to refuse to transport a student who puts the safety of the driver or other students on the bus at risk. The driver would notify a school district official and the student would be transferred to the custody of a district official, their parent or guardian, or law enforcement. 
• A requirement that drivers be heard during disciplinary procedures against students or parents for bus misbehavior. The driver’s recommendation would have to be considered in determining disciplinary action. 
• A requirement that drivers be notified of the outcome of disciplinary actions against students and that drivers have a process to receive alternative route assignments if a student has their bus-riding privileges restored after disciplinary action.

Jefferson County Public Schools has no comment on the bill, district spokesperson Carolyn Callahan said. The bus drivers’ union could not immediately be reached for comment.

How are students misbehaving on buses?

The Courier Journal obtained a list of bus referrals from JCPS for the 2022-23 school year, showing nearly 15,000 were issued to students across the system for a variety of reasons.

There were more than three-dozen types of offenses, including physical violence and drug use or possession.

Failure to remain seated on the bus was the most common offense, leading to more than 3,800 referrals, followed by fighting among students with 3,355. Nearly 2,500 students received referrals for horseplay, and there were more than 1,400 referrals for profanity or vulgarity toward students or staff.

“Somebody has got to be in charge. And when you’re talking about a bus rolling down I-65 or I-64, it’s got to be the bus driver,” Bratcher said on the House floor on Friday.

Another bus bill

A separate bus bill, HB 447, also sponsored by Callaway, gained House approval on Friday. That measure would allow school districts to use smaller, nine-passenger vehicles on daily bus routes. 

Using the smaller vehicles will allow drivers without commercial driver’s licenses to transport students, Callaway said, which should help with the state’s bus driver shortage. 

That bill also gained nearly unanimous House approval, with the sole “no” coming from Rep. David Meade, R-Stanford, and will now move to the Senate for consideration. 

Reporter Krista Johnson contributed to this story. Reach Rebecca Grapevine at rgrapevine@courier-journal.com or follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @RebGrapevine.