No Rules for Arizona School Vans? That’s Because the Council for Them Has No Members

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Who is ensuring that the people driving vans full of K-12 students in Arizona are properly qualified? Not the Student Transportation Advisory Council, which is tasked with making recommendations for the use of those vans, because the council effectively doesn’t exist — and hasn’t for at least a year.

When lawmakers passed a bill last year that allows schools to transport students to and from school using 11- to 15-passenger vans instead of yellow buses, proponents promised skeptics that the advisory council, in conjunction with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, would establish minimum standards for drivers and safety standards for the vehicles themselves.

But it’s not possible that DPS worked with the council to create those standards, because the council hasn’t met since then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed the bill into law on June 16, 2022.

The council, whose membership was increased to 14 members from nine by the same bill, is currently completely vacant, and has been vacant for more than a year with no indication from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs when or if new members will be appointed.

The law that established the council says that it’s Hobbs’ responsibility to appoint members to the council, but it was Ducey who initially allowed all of the members’ terms to expire without making reappointments.

Hobbs did not respond to multiple requests for comment or a list of questions that the Mirror sent to her team. Instead, her spokesperson referred the Arizona Mirror to DPS.

DPS did not answer the Mirror’s questions before this article was published. The most recent agenda available online for a School Bus Advisory Council meeting — the former name of the council — was dated Dec. 14, 2021. A member of the Transportation Administrators of Arizona, who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal from DPS, told the Mirror that was the council’s last meeting.

The law governing the council lays out its specific duties, including that it meet twice annually, and that it “advise and consult with the department of public safety concerning matters related to the certification of school bus drivers and the safety of school buses” and 11-15 passenger vans.

The promise was ‘a lot of eyes’ looking at the safety

Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, sponsored the bill that allows schools to use passenger vans to transport students. She said the vans would be a way for smaller schools in rural areas and charter schools with a widely dispersed student population to transport students more efficiently than with a large-capacity yellow bus.

Vans would also be cheaper than a school bus, which has higher maintenance and operational costs.

The bill passed through both chambers of the Arizona legislature last June with only Republican support.

As the bill made its way through legislative committees, multiple Democrats expressed concern about credentialing for drivers and the safety of high-capacity vans.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that only people who are used to driving large passenger vans do so, and it advises that ideally drivers should have a commercial driver’s license. More than half of the 235 people killed in rollover crashes in 15-passenger vans from 2010 to 2019 were ejected, and 69% of those killed weren’t wearing seatbelts, according to the NHTSA. Electronic stability control in newer 15-passenger vans prevents the increased danger of rollovers that poses a safety risk in older models.

Regular school bus drivers must obtain a commercial driver’s license and submit to drug testing, but drivers of 15-passenger vans are only legally required to have a regular drivers license.

During a Senate Education Committee meeting in February 2022, Sen. Sally Ann Gonzalez, D-Tucson, spoke about working as a school bus driver more than 30 years ago while she was in college. She said that she believes requiring drivers who transport students to have a CDL is an important safety measure.

The transportation administrator who spoke to the Mirror said that DPS strongly recommended during a meeting the agency held with school transportation administrators that schools require van drivers to have a CDL in order to ensure student safety, but he said that the department has no way to enforce that. He estimated that up to 70% of districts in Arizona were already using the vans for student transportation this year, including his own.

Also during the February 2022 committee meeting, Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, said that she appreciated the idea of the bill and the possibility that it might help with an ongoing school bus driver shortage, but was concerned that safety and insurance coverage would be an issue. Marsh ultimately voted against the bill.

In June 2022, when the Senate voted on the bill, Kerr assured those with safety concerns that DPS, in conjunction with the Student Transportation Advisory Council, would keep a close eye on safety measures for use of the vans.

“It’s an important bill, particularly for rural areas that need flexibility in their school transportation when it doesn’t make sense to take a full size school bus to transport students safely on their regular bus routes,” Kerr said, adding that there would be “a lot of eyes looking at this on safety.”

Kerr did not respond to requests for comment.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.

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