# Dallas students learn bus repair from DART's own mechanics

> Fourteen Dallas ISD seniors are spending a semester beside DART technicians, training for diesel jobs that start at $33 an hour.
- Title: Dallas students learn bus repair from DART's own mechanics
- Summary: Fourteen Dallas ISD seniors are spending a semester beside DART technicians, training for diesel jobs that start at $33 an hour. Dallas ISD and DART are…
- Keywords: education, career training, public transit, dallas, skilled trades, news, local, students, learn, bus, repair, DART's
- Source: FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth — https://fox4news.com/news/dallas-isd-dart-offering-bus-maintenance-program-students
- Author: Carter Freemon
- Published: 2026-09-15T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: education, career training, public transit, dallas, skilled trades, news, local
## Dallas ISD teams up with DART
Dallas ISD and Dallas Area Rapid Transit launched a High School Student Bus Maintenance Externship Program. It runs through the district's Automotive Technician Program of Study.
## Fourteen seniors, real technicians
Fourteen Dallas ISD high school seniors will work alongside DART bus maintenance technicians for the whole semester, getting hands-on experience in place of classroom theory.

> Our students grow the most when they’re in the real world solving real problems
## What they will work on
Students focus on vehicle inspections, engine fundamentals and climate system maintenance, the core skills of keeping a transit fleet on the road.
## A fix for a mechanic shortage
DART says there aren't enough diesel maintenance mechanics in the industry. It is opening its fleet and its staff to students to help build that workforce.

> to cultivate the next generation of diesel maintenance mechanics
## Training the people, not just DART
DART Chairman Randall Bryant said the partnership lets the agency get ready for the future and train the people who will run it.

> Are we simply preparing DART for the future, or are we preparing the people who will lead DART into the future?
## A career at $33 an hour
One student told Dallas ISD's Ben Jones that the technicians said the work starts at $33 an hour. He saw it as a real paycheck and a lasting career.

> I'm not gonna get a job out of this. I'm gonna get a career.
## Key takeaway

Dallas ISD and DART are pairing students with working mechanics to train them for good-paying diesel careers and to ease a real worker shortage.