School bus training varies widely

AJC:

If your child gets on a school bus today, the ride might be safer in one school district than in another.

That’s because the driver might have anywhere from 24 to 120 hours of required training, depending on the school district.

Monday’s deadly school bus crash in Carroll County, in which a trainee was behind the wheel, has raised questions about the level of preparedness among school bus drivers.

The training, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found, varies wildly from school district to school district.

While the state education agency makes on-site assessments of district training only once every five years, officials said they’ve found districts that couldn’t hand over records indicating compliance.

“They can’t say they’ve produced the training we’ve required,” board spokesman Matt Cardoza said.