The Senate Education Committee on Monday killed a bill that would have created a school bus driver certification subsidy pilot program within the state Department of Education for the next school year.
Senate Bill 868 was introduced by Sen. Dru Kanuha to help combat Hawaiʻi's ongoing school bus driver shortage.
The DOE had suspended over 100 bus routes at the beginning of the school year because of the shortage.
Dean Uchida, the DOE deputy superintendent for operations, said the Department of Transportation is the main agency responsible for licensing school bus drivers and vehicles in the state.
"There's a shortage nationwide of school bus drivers," he said. "It's just we donʻt have people that are interested in driving a school bus right now."
Uchida told lawmakers that he's unsure how much this pilot program would have cost due to the shortage.
