YELLOW SHEET
Office of the State Auditor of Missouri
Claire McCaskill
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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
April 15, 2003
Report No.2003-35
School bus safety relies on thorough driver screening and consistent bus inspections, but auditors found weaknesses in both areas
Current state law is supposed to prevent school bus driver applicants with felony convictions of disallowable offenses including: drug possession, assault, domestic violence and prostitution, from obtaining permits to drive school buses. But the law is not working, the background screening procedures are insufficient, and the state criminal information is incomplete. As a result, an indeterminate number of individuals with such felony convictions are allowed to work as licensed school bus drivers.
This audit analyzed school bus safety through driver screening and bus inspections. The audit work involved three agencies: Department of Revenue officials who license the drivers; Department of Elementary and Secondary Education staff who develop bus safety policies and standards, based on state law; and Missouri State Highway Patrol (highway patrol) officials who screen driver backgrounds and inspect buses.
Criminal records outside Missouri not checked on bus drivers
Background screenings for bus drivers do not include checks of criminal history information outside Missouri or of highway patrol's closed records. Highway patrol officials need a driver's fingerprint to complete these checks, but fingerprints are not currently required of bus applicants. Auditors ran 386 drivers against highway patrol's criminal history records and found 60 with convictions or charges of disallowable offenses. Of these 60 drivers, 14 had conviction information in closed records, which the highway patrol will not make available without a fingerprint. Department of Revenue officials said they would have denied the school bus permit applications if they had received the closed record information. (See page 4)
Child abuse and neglect databases not used to screen drivers
Department of Revenue officials do not currently run bus driver applicants through the child abuse and neglect database because the data does not include criminal convictions. Other state agencies, including the Bureau of Child Care, use the database in deciding to license individuals operating or working in child care centers. Auditors checked about 21,000 drivers against the child abuse database and found 330 obtained bus permits after state officials substantiated abuse and neglect complaints. Childcare bureau staff reviewed abuse complaints of 15 drivers and said they would be concerned about the safety of children with 8 of the 15 drivers. (See page 4)
Incomplete statewide criminal data allowed licensing of some convicted drivers
Auditors gave Kansas City police officials the names of 700 school bus drivers to match against their criminal data system and found 14 drivers with convictions of disallowable offenses. Of these 14, 13 were convicted before applying for bus permits. Highway patrol officials said the Kansas City police never forwarded the criminal information to the highway patrol. In January 2003, state officials revoked the permits of these 14 drivers. (See page 5)
Spot inspections of school buses could increase safety
Spot inspections conducted by five highway patrol troops in 2002 showed some operators conducted incomplete inspections. State law requires inspections of each school bus twice a year, with one inspection by highway patrol officials. Bus operator employees licensed to inspect often conduct the second review. A spot inspection is in addition to the two required inspections and is often unannounced. Among four spot inspections conducted by two patrol troops, officials failed 22 buses and restricted 6 of these 22 from service due to serious defects. In two cases, the spot inspections occurred 2 and 15 days after the bus operator's self-inspection. The highway patrol could use results of required inspections to focus spot checks on operators with repeatedly poor inspections. (See page 8)
Increased costs of adding seat belts to buses is unknown in Missouri
Children are eight times safer riding to school in buses than in cars with their parents, according to an April 2002 national report analyzing seat belts in buses. This national study concluded the overall benefit of requiring seatbelts in large buses did not warrant a mandated federal standard to install them. The study also cautioned the costs of mandating belts could discontinue bus transportation for some children and increase their risk of injury. Missouri, as most states, does not mandate installing seat belts in large school buses. If state officials wanted to consider the potential costs of installing seat belts in buses, they would have to develop cost data by tracking the number of large school buses in the state and the average daily occupancy rates. (See page 12)