More Fresno Unified employees from school sites are temporarily assigned to shuttle students as the district works to meet an updated state law.

With the academic year just started, the state’s third-largest school district notified parents that it is currently facing a shortage of drivers for small vehicles, typically used to transport students to activities such as field trips, athletic events, and after-school programs.

While the district is actively working to qualify staff to meet new state requirements, Fresno Unified is deploying more employees with good driving records to temporarily help chauffeur students so they don’t miss the school events or extracurricular opportunities, said the message received by parents.

The new law that put Fresno Unified in a tough spot is Senate Bill 88, which took effect on July 1, 2025. It extended driver requirements and qualification standards to all school-related student transportation services, as opposed to the traditional school buses that carry students from home to school.

Specifically, the updated standards mandate that all district employees who operate vehicles with a maximum occupancy of 10 or fewer passengers, including the driver, and also transport students for more than 40 hours per year, must meet 14 driving requirements that are similar to what is required of a school bus driver.

A total of 75 small vehicles are in operation at school sites of Fresno Unified, the district that oversees 107 campuses, according to AJ Kato, communications manager for Fresno Unified. The types of vehicles include vans, minivans, SUVs, and passenger cars, and they are used to shuttle students to and from school-related activities when necessary, Kato said.

In recent years, Fresno Unified has equipped some schools with vans so they can help students and parents overcome daily challenges, as part of the state’s Community Schools initiative. At Fort Miller Middle School, staff members utilize a van to pick up kids who miss the school bus and have no other transportation to school in order to improve student attendance, the Fresno Bee previously reported.

When The Bee asked how many students were served by small-vehicle transportation in the last school year, Kato said the data was not tracked. The school sites monitor hours of transporting students, not the total number of students being driven, she said.

In the 2025-26 school year, no employee went over 40 hours of driving students, according to the district.

Under the new regulations, employees who drive students for fewer than 40 hours annually are not subject to the additional driving qualifications similar to those for traditional school bus drivers. However, the employees are still impacted by the law because they have to track and report their student transportation hours, Kato said.

“The district and school sites are also required to monitor and maintain applicable records and compliance measures to ensure employees remain within the threshold, or complete any additional requirements if they exceed it,” Kato wrote in an emailed reply.

Kato added that the district has been aware of the new law since it went into effect a year ago, and Fresno Unified has maintained processes to monitor and meet the requirements.

In the message received by parents last week, Fresno Unified said the district is working towards full compliance with the updated standards. Meanwhile, the district is deploying experienced drivers who meet the previous qualifications and have a proven track record of safe driving on a temporary basis, so student participation in events and activities is not disrupted.

The district assured parents that the temporary drivers are school employees and that they will not exceed 40 hours of driving time per school year until they become qualified under the state law.