Nearly 30,000 Students Opt In for School Bus Service in Stafford

STAFFORD, Va. – Thousands of families have now confirmed whether their children will ride the bus next school year, as Stafford County Public Schools continues to implement its new transportation opt-in policy.

As of the end of May 2025, 29,717 students across the division have declared their transportation intentions for the upcoming school year. Of those, 5,640 students have opted out of morning service, and 5,224 have opted out of afternoon service, according to information presented at June 10, 2025 School Board meeting.

The district’s transportation department began routing on June 3, 2025, and route information is scheduled to appear in ParentVUE by July 1. Final route details will be emailed to families on July 29, with drivers receiving their assignments on August 5, followed by practice runs August 7–8. A Transition Day for students is set for August 11.

A Shift Prompted by Crisis

The opt-in system marks a major change in how SCPS manages school bus service—and it’s a direct response to a transportation crisis that unfolded in August 2024, when more than 3,000 students were left without assigned bus service on the eve of the first day of school.

Parents received late-night notifications that their children would not have transportation the following morning, prompting widespread confusion and community outrage. Some students were still without transportation weeks into the school year.

Potomac Local News covered the crisis extensively. At the time, school officials blamed new, untested routing software and staff shortages, while parents criticized the lack of timely communication. Interim Superintendent Chris Fulmer acknowledged that the system had been rolled out too quickly and without adequate preparation.

In March 2025, SCPS announced the move to an opt-in model, requiring families to actively request school bus service. The shift was designed to eliminate unused bus stops and routes, allowing the department to use its resources more efficiently and reliably.

What’s New This Year

The transportation team presented an update to the school board in June, highlighting several changes beyond the opt-in system:

• A new dispatcher will be added to the department starting July 1 to improve route monitoring and communication.
• The district introduced digital request forms (TR-1) for students with disabilities, integrating transportation needs directly into Synergy, the school division’s student information system.
• The MyRide app remains available for parents to track bus locations, although reliability remains a concern in areas with limited cell coverage.

The transportation department also addressed an ongoing concern from drivers: behavior management on the bus. Last school year, more than 1,600 behavior referrals were submitted. Drivers say they are often not informed whether their concerns are addressed by school administrators.

Superintendent Dr. Daniel W. Smith noted that behavior management should reflect a student’s actions across all environments—classrooms, lunchrooms, and buses—and emphasized the importance of a feedback loop so drivers know their reports are taken seriously.

Parents who fail to opt in or change their minds must now go through their school registrar to request transportation. If a student does not ride the bus for 10 consecutive school days, they will be removed from the manifest (though the stop remains). Re-entry could take up to 10 business days.