Rutherford County families are staring down a bumpy start to the school week after district officials warned Sunday that about 40 contracted school buses will be sidelined on Monday and Tuesday because one private bus contractor lost its insurance coverage. The sudden outage is expected to knock out dozens of routes, slow down the rest of the system as staff scramble to plug holes, and has prompted the district to say that any absences or tardies tied to the bus disruption will be excused.
District scrambling to fill gaps
In a message to families, Rutherford County Schools explained that it uses an owner-contractor model in which individual bus owners run routes under Board contracts. On Sunday, the district learned that one of those contractors had lost its insurance, which immediately sidelined roughly 40 buses, according to WSMV. Officials said they are working the phones with other contractors to see who can pick up additional routes and apologized for the last-minute chaos, warning that even families whose routes are not listed as affected could still see delays as drivers are shifted around.
Which routes are affected
The district released a long list of bus routes that will be impacted, including 12, 16, 27, 39, 61, 65, 75, 84, 96, 97, 100, 114, 115, 129, 130, 140, 160, 168, 176, 187, 189, 195, 199, 204, 211, 212, 215, 220, 227, 237, 244, 258, 290, 303, 309, 313, 315, 320, 323, 326 and 327, as reported by NewsChannel 5. Families on those routes were told to watch for direct messages from the transportation department with updated pick-up and drop-off details. The district is urging parents to set up backup transportation plans for Monday and Tuesday if they spot their child’s route on the list.
School board meeting and next steps
The Rutherford County School Board has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 24, to dig into how the contractor’s insurance lapsed and what the district can realistically do in response, according to WSMV. Board members are expected to weigh quick fixes to get students to class in the short term, along with bigger-picture options if private contractors cannot reliably cover all routes. Parents and residents will be watching for updates after that meeting as officials lay out their plan.
Why this happened
District leaders and bus contractors have been haggling over transportation agreements since spring 2025, when Rutherford County shifted to an owner-contractor setup that generally leaves insurance costs to individual vendors. Under the contract approved last May, the county stopped providing group coverage and instead offered a $4,000 stipend to help contractors buy their own liability policies, according to WGNS. Contractors had already warned that the change could mean higher costs and occasional gaps in coverage, concerns that are now playing out as transportation leaders race to cover dozens of sidelined routes.
What parents should know
Families affected by the outage will receive direct communication from the transportation department with route-by-route instructions, and the district has confirmed that any absences or tardies linked to bus problems will be excused, according to NewsChannel 5. Parents who need immediate help were told to contact their school’s transportation office. Officials are asking families to pack some extra patience and maybe leave a little earlier than usual as drivers and contractors adjust to the temporary coverage changes over the next two days.
