School Bus Group Applies to Renew Its CDL Exemption

A quieter item from the Federal Register, but relevant if you are working toward a school bus endorsement or already driving a route.

What happened

On June 30, FMCSA published a notice that the National School Transportation Association applied to renew an existing exemption relating to commercial driver's licensing. Renewal applications like this are routine and they come with a public comment period, which is the point of publishing them.

Exemptions are how FMCSA lets a specific group operate under a modified requirement when it can show an equivalent level of safety. They are narrow by design. An exemption held by an association applies on the terms FMCSA grants, not as a general loosening of the rules for everyone driving a bus.

Why it matters to you

If you drive a school bus, your employer will know whether any exemption applies to your operation. It is not something you opt into individually. What is worth taking from this is the reminder that school bus driving is governed by a stack of rules that sits on top of the ordinary CDL requirements, and that the stack changes.

The endorsements you actually need

For a school bus you need the S endorsement, and it comes with the P passenger endorsement. Both require their own knowledge test, and the school bus test focuses heavily on the things that injure students: loading and unloading, the danger zones around the bus, and stop procedures at railroad crossings and on the roadway.

The federal Entry-Level Driver Training rules also apply when you add a school bus or passenger endorsement for the first time, not only when you get your first CDL.

If you are preparing, our school bus practice test covers the endorsement material, and the state pages list the agency that issues your license so you can confirm local requirements at the source.