School Districts who employ CDL drivers, with the CDL being a condition of their employment, ARE NOT exempt the requirements for Drug & Alcohol Testing as set forth in 49 CFR Part 40 for CDL drivers.

Given the complexity of the DOT’s drug and alcohol testing requirements, it is strongly suggested, and recommended school districts hire a C/TPA (Consortium/Third-Party Administrator) to help manage their federally mandated CDL alcohol and drug testing program



FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearing House

Any school district who employs CDL drivers, with the CDL being a condition of their employment, shall register and set up an account with the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse

• Employers need to consult with their C/TPA (Consortium/ Third Party Administrator) to find out which services they are going to provide and which ones you will be responsible for
• Annual mandated limited queries of all  CDL drivers will need to be made through the clearinghouse. Even if your C/TPA does this for you, you will need to purchase the queries for the C/TPA. Queries cost $1.25 each
• Queries can only be purchased through the clearing house which accepts credit/debit cards, Amazon Pay, PayPal and EFT from a bank account (similar to a check, requires the routing number and bank account number)
• Queries can be purchased in bundles which never expire
• A limited and a full query cost the same
• All CDL drivers shall sign a written consent form to allow employers to run mandated yearly limited queries through the clearing house 
• The school district as an employer has a legal responsibility to report alcohol and drug violations to the clearinghouse
• All new CDL employees shall be checked with a full query through the clearinghouse for alcohol and drug violations 
• All new CDL employees shall register with the clearinghouse and provide the employer with digital consent to run a full query. Digital consent only applies to a full query
• Existing CDL employees, who were hired prior to January 6, 2020, do not need to register with the clearinghouse unless they were to change jobs or have an issue arise during a limited query
• FMCSA advises to use caution regarding solicitations from vendors offering to register employers with the clearinghouse. Federal law requires employers (school district) to do their own registering. The law does not allow someone else to do this for you
• Step by step registering instructions for the clearinghouse, for both school districts and drivers, can be found below under FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Resources
• The Clearinghouse will allow for the batch uploading of driver queries by preparing a tab-delimited file and uploading that file into the Clearinghouse for processing follow this link https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/Resource/Index/Bulk-Upload-Template 
• If the employee or prospective employee has failed an alcohol and/or drug test AT ANY TIME in the past, the individual is not eligible to drive a school bus until they complete a SAP (Substance Abuse Program) and return-to-duty requirements in 49 CFR Part 40. Your C/TPA (Consortium/Third-Party Administrator) should be able to help you locate a SAP provider
  
   

 FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Resources

Basic Drug & Alcohol Information for School Districts (PDF) School District Responsibilities and Information

SCHOOL DISTRICT INFORMATION FOR REGISTERING WITH THE CLEARINGHOUSE:

Employer Instructions on Registering for FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (PDF) Step by step instruction. Please note a school district is considered a Government Entity and is not required a DOT number. When asked for a DOT number remember this is not applicable to a school district.

SCHOOL DISTRICT INFORMATION FOR PURCHASING AND RUNNING QUERIES:

Employer Instructions on How to Run Limited Queries FMCSA website

Employer Instructions on How to Purchase Limited Queries FMCSA website

Sample form for Consent for Limited Queries General Consent Form for Limited Queries 

Employer Instructions on How to Run Full Queries FMCSA website

Employer Instructions on How to Assign you Consortium/Third Party Administrator to Run Your Queries FMCSA website

Employer Instructions on How to Report Drug/Alcohol Violation FMCSA website

BUS DRIVER RESOURCES

Driver Instructions on Registering for FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse (PDF) step by step instructions

Driver Instructions for Responding and Granting Electronic Permission for a Full Query From an Employer

CLEARINGHOUSE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:

FMCSA Learning Center FMCSA website

What Employers Need To Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing (PDF) Guidance and Best Practices published by
the  U.S. Department of Transportation

Frequently Asked Questions FMCSA website



Post Accident & Other Information

Post-Accident Drug & Alcohol Testing Flow Chart (PDF) Post-Accident Alcohol and Drug Testing for Kansas School Bus Drivers involved in an accident.

Kansas Drug Category Matrix (PDF) Overview of Signs and Symptoms of drug impairment

Federal Schedules of Controlled Substances



CBD Oil & Products

 DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance Notice (PDF) Information regarding CBD Oil and Products and its effects on mandated drug and alcohol testing under 49 CFR part 40 for Kansas school bus drivers holding a CDL.



Medical Marijuana and Recreational Marijuana

 DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance Notice (PDF) Information regarding "Medical Marijuana" and its effects on mandated drug and alcohol testing under 49 CFR part 40 for Kansas school bus drivers holding a CDL.

 DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance Notice (PDF) Information regarding "Recreational Marijuana" and its effects on mandated drug and alcohol testing under 49 CFR part 40 for Kansas school bus drivers holding a CDL.