Vehicle inspectors from the Minnesota State Patrol are out checking school buses as students begin to return to class.

There are more than 18,000 school buses in Minnesota that must be inspected each year, according to the State Patrol.

The most current state data shows of the 9,936 school bus inspections conducted so far this year, that a majority passed, but that 2,271 buses failed their inspections.

“It’s still the safest mode of transportation for kids, we do verify when they fail, that the defects have been corrected,” said Lt. Brian Reu, with the Minnesota State Patrol.

Inspectors were out at the end of the week in the Eden Prairie School District checking the more than 100 buses used to transport students.

“It’s nice to have it before school starts,” said Randy Haar, Eden Prairie Schools’ transportation director.

The State Patrol found the district’s buses all passed their safety inspections.

“Each day, our drivers will come in and inspect the buses before they go out on their routes for school and our mechanics maintain those buses year-round,” Haar said.

State inspectors look inside, outside, and underneath the bus for possible safety violations.

“A stop arm that doesn’t work, any of the school bus lights, reds or yellows (lights) up top don’t work- that’s going to down the bus right there,” said Lt. Reu. “If you’ve got a tire that’s bald or a tire that’s flat, that’s automatic failures.”

The patrol notifies bus companies when their annual inspection will take place.

A school bus that passes its 2023 safety exam will get an orange sticker, that’s posted on the driver-side window.

“Once it has that good sticker on it, we know it’s passed all of our state and federal specifications,” Lt. Rau said.

If a doesn’t have that 2023 sticker, it could mean state inspectors just haven’t got to it yet this year, according to the patrol.

State school bus data is updated monthly.