Guide

School Driver Background Checks in Massachusetts

Before a driver carries students in Massachusetts, three separate checks apply: the district's criminal record and fingerprint check, the Registry of Motor Vehicles' screening for the 7D or school bus license, and, for drivers who need a commercial license, federal drug and alcohol testing. Districts often add conditions of their own. Here is who does what, from the statutes and regulations, and what to have ready.

The district's check: CORI and fingerprints

Chapter 71, section 38R requires schools to obtain criminal offender record information (CORI) from the state's Department of Criminal Justice Information Services at least every three years for anyone who regularly provides school-related transportation to children, and requires the superintendent or principal to obtain a state and national fingerprint-based criminal background check for them as well. That covers drivers employed by a contractor, not just district employees.

Fingerprints go to the State Police and on to the FBI for the national check, and they may be kept on file so that schools can keep confirming a person is still suitable.

How the district decides

The state education department's rules (603 CMR 51.00) set the order. The district reviews the person's Massachusetts CORI first. If that doesn't rule the person out, the person submits fingerprints for the national check, and the district then decides whether the person is suitable. It keeps a record of the person's name and date of birth, the date it received the results and its decision, for as long as the person works for it or seven years, whichever is longer.

A district may rely on another school employer's favorable decision instead of running a new check if the decision was made within the last seven years, the person hasn't lived outside Massachusetts for more than three years since, and the person has worked continuously for school employers or with gaps totaling no more than two years. On the person's request, a district must give a copy of its decision to the person or to another school employer. Otherwise, a new check is done at the person's expense.

The RMV's screening for the license

The RMV screens drivers when it issues a 7D license (chapter 90, section 8A½) or a school bus license (section 8A). For either license, it must be satisfied that the applicant is of good moral character, and it can't license a sex offender as defined in chapter 6, section 178C, anyone convicted of a drug offense involving the use, sale, manufacture or distribution of controlled substances, or anyone convicted of operating under the influence within the previous five years. Both licenses require a physical examination and last twelve months.

School bus applicants also complete a pre-service driver training program and a first aid course that covers using an epinephrine auto-injector, and renewal applicants complete in-service training. Our 7D requirements guide covers the 7D license in detail.

Federal drug and alcohol testing for CDL drivers

A driver needs a commercial driver's license (CDL) for a vehicle designed to carry 16 or more people including the driver, such as the 77-passenger buses in Salem's 2026 bid (49 CFR 383.5). Federal motor carrier rules exempt many school bus operations, but not from drug and alcohol testing: it applies to every driver who needs a CDL and to the company that employs them (49 CFR 382.103). The rules require:

a verified negative drug test before a driver's first trip (382.301);
random testing each year of at least 50% of driver positions for drugs and 10% for alcohol, rates the FMCSA can change (382.305);
a full query of the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, with the driver's consent, before hiring, and a query at least once a year for every driver (382.701);
for an owner-operator who employs only themselves, a random testing pool of two or more drivers (382.103).

7D drivers and drug testing

A 7D vehicle carries ten passengers or fewer, so its drivers don't need a CDL and the federal testing rules don't cover them. Districts can require testing anyway: Salem's 2026 invitation requires the contractor to run, at its own expense, a random drug and alcohol testing program for every driver on the contract, following the federal CDL rules or the student transportation rules, whichever is stricter.

What districts add in their bids

District invitations set their own timing and conditions on top of the law:

Salem (2026): drivers and monitors must be cleared through CORI and fingerprinting, with the paperwork filed at least seven calendar days before a driver's first assignment, and no one convicted of a drug or alcohol offense in the past ten years may drive.
Lowell (2026): no driver is assigned until Lowell Public Schools completes a CORI check, and drivers submit their information and a signed release through their employer.
Franklin County (2024 to 2029): the districts may also check the state sex offender registry (SORI), the contractor reimburses the districts for the cost of the checks, the contractor must file a drug testing plan, and a driver roster is due each August 15.

Keep a file for every driver

Districts ask for proof at different times, so keep it in one place for each driver: license and certificate expiration dates, physical examinations (twice a year for drivers over 70), the district's suitability confirmation, drug test records for CDL drivers, and anything an invitation asks for, such as Nantucket's 2026 list of the physical examination, a tuberculin test, certification of a background investigation and CORI information.

Sources

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