Bill to lower school bus driver minimum age fails in committee

Yahoo

20-03-2025

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — A bill that sought to lower the minimum age to drive a school bus in Tennessee — dropping it from 25 to 21 — failed to pass a state senate committee.
On Wednesday, the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee rejected the bill in a narrow 5-4 vote.
State Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma), who sponsored the senate version of the bill, told the committee that the bill was filed in hopes of expanding the pool of eligible bus drivers to combat a shortage. Current Tennessee law requires bus drivers to be 25; the bill sought to lower that age to 21.
Tennessee bill looks to lower minimum school bus driving age to 21
Bowling told committee members that data did not support that young bus drivers were a danger.
'The indication of all the reports that involved drivers of school buses, the highest number of accidents took place when you were 56-60, and then the second was 61-65 and then the next was 51-55,' Bowling said. 'The whole point is that the lowest, the 26-30, is 3.2%, and that is the lowest of the accidents. I would just ask that this bill be passed in order to allow our rural schools and districts to determine if someone 23 years of age is competent and they've had their CDL for two years, they would have the ability to hire them.'
Elizabeth Stroecker, the director of legislation for the Tennessee Department of Safety, spoke in opposition to the bill. She said the reason for the low number of accidents among young school bus drivers is that few bus drivers fit in that age range.
'There are currently only 20 people who are 25 who even have a Class C or an S endorsement on their CDL to drive a school bus,' Stroecker said. 'There are four people who are 24 and zero who are 23.'
Bowling later responded and reminded the committee that her numbers only reflected the 26-30 age range, not anyone 25 and younger.
According to Stroecker, the age requirement was raised to 25 from 21 years ago in response to a Hamilton County school bus crash that claimed the lives of several students. Another bus crash occurred in Knox County around the same time that also led to three student deaths. She said the Department of Safety would prefer the age requirement stay higher so more equipped, experienced and mature drivers are operating school buses.
'Just because you can get your CDL at 21, it doesn't necessarily mean that someone will do that and then drive for two years before they apply for an S endorsement,' Stroecker said.
While Stroecker said the department recognizes there is a shortage in school bus drivers, she did not think lowering the age requirement was a solution.
'We kind of see this as something that really may not help that much, and we don't want to risk putting someone who maybe hasn't hit that maturity level to drive a vehicle with so many children as their passengers,' Stroecker said.
Discussion by committee members followed with Sen. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) stating that there were some people in their early 20s that he would certainly trust to drive a bus and people in their 40s that he would not, which he said ultimately left the determination to the school boards.
Sen. Tom Hatcher (R-Maryville) sided with Stroecker, saying that, in general, he did not believe people under 25 were mature enough to be placed in such a situation with children aboard.
With only four votes in favor of passage, the bill failed to pass the committee.
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