(NewsNation) — Plagued throughout the academic year by what it called “chronic bus absenteeism,” St. Louis Public Schools is offering to pay families who drive their kids to the final two weeks of school.

NewsNation local affiliate KTVI reports the Missouri school district has already begun offering gas cards to families, but the new initiative was detailed in a letter sent to parents Monday.

“We are excited to announce a new set of programs aimed at addressing the current challenges in transportation services,” Toyin Akinola, the director of transportation for St. Louis Public Schools, said in the letter.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Akinola noted a “significant number” of bus drivers were absent Monday, meaning some student-athletes didn’t have a way to get to after-school sports practices or games. The district’s website showed at least 30 regular bus routes were not in service Monday, and on Tuesday, 17 routes were canceled.

Starting May 13, the district said parents and guardians will be able to download an app through which they will receive $75 a week until May 22 for transporting their children.

Students who take part in the program cannot be tardy or absent more than once a week.

This isn’t the first time St. Louis Public Schools has reimbursed people for taking their kids to school. In Fall 2022, when eight schools had no buses for two weeks because of a driver shortage, the district also distributed gas cards and bus passes, the Post-Dispatch said. Some students with special needs or insecure housing are given taxi services, the newspaper added.

St. Louis Public Schools’ new transportation program comes as the district is ending its contract with bus company Missouri Central.

“Missouri Central’s inability to maintain enough drivers to transport the students of St. Louis Public Schools has been well-documented,” the district said in a statement last month. State records, per the Post-Dispatch, show more than half of students are considered chronically absent, with the driver shortage leaving many stranded as they try to get to class.

The Associated Press writes that the relationship between Missouri Central and St. Louis soured after a Black company mechanic said he found a noose at his workstation after arguing with his manager over concerns that some bus brakes were inadequate.

In response, NAACP leaders called for a hate crime investigation, and at least 100 drivers took part in a work stoppage, some for a few days.

Missouri Central hired a third-party investigator, but a report on the probe has not been completed yet.

Last December, a company official said Missouri Central asked St. Louis Public Schools for more money to address unprecedented industry inflation and a nationwide school bus driver shortage. A statement from the school district said Missouri Central requested an extra $2 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.