At-risk school bus drivers will undergo sleep studies.

Apnea can cause people to become sleep deprived and therefore a hazard on the road. District officials want to make sure that drivers who may have the condition are screened and treated for safety reasons.

The district entered into an agreement with Florida Sleep Solutions, Inc., to conduct sleep studies on drivers who are deemed at risk during annual physicals. The cost to the district will be $150 per study.

The news comes two years after Congress unanimously approved a bill that required the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to establish rules that require drivers in the transportation industry to be screened for sleep apnea. President Obama signed it into law in October 2013.

The administration is still trying to establish the rules for such screenings and treatment.

“The agency’s regulations and advisory criteria do not include recommendations for treatments for (sleep apnea),” according to an agency bulletin early this year. Agency officials believe treatment recommendations are best left up to the treating health care professional.

Marion Public Schools has the 84th largest bus fleet in the country, mainly because the county is larger in size than the state of Rhode Island.

Marion County uses 273 buses to transport about 24,000 students, or 57 percent of all the students in the district. District spokeswoman Kerry Burke said the district has 283 full-time drivers, including 10 floating drivers to cover absences.

District spokesman Kevin Christian said those buses make 3,300 stops twice daily, going to and from school. The buses log 33,000 round-trip miles daily or 5.9 million annually.

“Untreated sleep apnea can make it difficult for you to stay awake, to focus your eyes, to remain alert and to react quickly to driving situations,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. “If you are very tired or find yourself falling asleep while at work or at home, you should not drive. It is unsafe for you and others on the road.”

The National Sleep Foundation reports that 29 percent of bus and taxi drivers say they rarely sleep well on work nights. The agency also reported that 60 percent of train operators, 50 percent of pilots and 44 percent of truck drivers also reported they were not sleeping well.

School Board Chairwoman Angie Boynton said she had been concerned about any ties local doctors may have with Florida Sleep Solutions and the possibility of unnecessary referrals for a sleep study.

District administrators said they are not aware of any ties between doctors and the company, which is located on Southwest 34th Circle in Ocala, and that they believe only at-risk drivers will be referred.

Lisa Krysalka, deputy superintendent of schools, said all bus drivers are required to have an annual physical, effective each year around their birth date. The cost of the physical is paid for by the district in accordance with its contract with the bus drivers’ union, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, or IUPAT.

The physical has always included drug screenings and an electrocardiogram, a test that checks the electrical activity of the heart.

“If any of the drivers are identified, they must do an overnight sleep study,” said Becky Rora, a bus transportation coordinator.

Krysalka said that in most cases, school bus drivers believe to be at risk “are given a three month physical card to allow them to continue to drive while they participate in the sleep screening.”

“If they comply, they will be able to drive continuously,” she said. “If they are non-compliant, the medical provider will not continue to allow them to drive.”

Jane Roach, the local IUPAT president who represents bus drivers, could not be reached for comment.