JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - The percentage of school buses failing state inspections is on the rise in Missouri.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says slightly fewer than 85 percent of the roughly 12,000 school buses it inspected this year were initially approved. That's the lowest percentage since 2010.
Almost 12 percent of the buses were found to have defective items that needed repair but did not immediately jeopardize student safety. An additional 3.4 percent were placed out of service because of defects that could have compromised safety. Both of those figures were higher than rates during the previous three years of annual inspections.
This year's annual school bus inspections were conducted from Feb. 3 to May 20.