Tampa Bay-area CDL schools says they were ‘wrongfully’ shut down in DOT crackdown

13 schools in Florida and 110 nationwide received shutdown notices Monday from the DOT.

TAMPA, Fla. — Multiple Tampa Bay area commercial driver’s license schools say they were blindsided after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ordered them to shut down as part of a nationwide crackdown on trucking schools.

13 schools in Florida and 110 nationwide received shutdown notices Monday from the DOT.

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the schools were being shut down after graduates were later found to have failed English language proficiency requirements during roadside inspections.

The department said the schools had issued licenses to more than 5,000 drivers who failed those English proficiency checks.

But instructors at CDL Training of Tampa, one of the schools that was shut down, say the school did nothing wrong.

“We’re dumbfounded right now,” said Lazaro Acosta, a driving road instructor at the school.

According to Acosta, 16 graduates from CDL Training of Tampa failed English language proficiency tests and were included on the list provided to the school.

The school has graduated more than 4,000 students since it began operating in 2019, Acosta said. He said the school recently passed a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit and has consistently followed federal requirements.

“We’ve been operational since 2019. We’ve been in compliance. We’ve passed our FMCSA audit recently. Everything we’ve done here has been by the rules, so this is absolutely crazy,” Acosta said.

Acosta said English proficiency is part of the school’s screening process and that students cannot complete the required testing without understanding English.

“You can’t test at this school unless you have basic English,” he said. “In order to do the tests, it’s in English. You have to be some sort of proficient in English in order to operate a commercial vehicle.”

He said instructors also train students on English terminology they need to safely operate a commercial vehicle, including road signs, truck parts and how to communicate with compliance officers.

Acosta said he recognized two names on the list of graduates provided to the school and believes both students could speak English.

10 Tampa Bay News also spoke with three other local CDL schools that were included in the shutdown who similarly said they believe they were wrongfully targeted.

“A1 CDL LLC agrees that English Language Proficiency is paramount to public safety and should be enforced,” one school told us in a statement. “However, the methodology employed by FMCSA is flawed. We are fully in compliance with FMCSA regulations in making applicants aware of the English Language Proficiency requirements. Companies were given no notice, warning, or chance to prove compliance prior to being removed. Most of the drivers we received notice of have already had their CDL A-licenses reinstated through a recertification process. These numbers are being artificially inflated by not taking into account that most drivers are recertified and validated as able to speak english in the end. This should have been handled differently and not caused many American workers to be out of work for 30 days even if they didn’t do anything wrong.”

The shutdowns are part of a broader federal effort targeting commercial trucking fraud and enforcement of English language proficiency requirements.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April 2025 requiring commercial truck drivers in the United States to be proficient in English. That same month, Duffy issued new guidance reinstating enforcement of English language proficiency requirements for commercial vehicle drivers.

Duffy said Monday that drivers need to be able to speak English to safely operate commercial vehicles.

“You have to speak English to operate a commercial motor vehicle,” he said. “I didn’t create that rule. President Trump didn’t create that rule.”

At CDL Training of Tampa, the shutdown has also left students who were already enrolled uncertain about what happens next. Acosta said some students were scheduled to test later this week.

The school says it plans to challenge the shutdown.

“We’re gonna fight with everything we got,” Acosta said. “Because, like I said, we’ve been doing things the correct way.”