Texas and Pennsylvania Top States for CDL School Closures
Texas, Pennsylvania lead states in CDL school shutdowns
Texas and Pennsylvania had the largest number of brick-and-mortar commercial driver training schools affected by the Department of Transportation’s emergency enforcement action announced Monday.
Each state had 13 physical-location schools identified in the agency’s state-by-state breakdown. California followed with 11 affected schools, while Florida had 10 and Utah had nine. Ohio had seven. Together, those five states accounted for 56 of the 84 physical-location providers listed by DOT, or about two-thirds of the total.
The action is part of a broader federal crackdown on commercial driver’s license training providers that officials say have been associated with drivers later cited for failing to meet federal English-language proficiency requirements.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that federal officials were removing 110 commercial driver training schools from a federal registry after analyzing violation data. Duffy said the schools accounted for about 5,000 English-proficiency violations among drivers they had trained.
“These are driving schools that account for 5,000 of the violations for English proficiency,” Duffy said during a news conference in Detroit. “There’s 110 of them through a data analysis that are the greatest offenders. As of today, those schools are shut down.”
DOT provided the state breakdown to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin. The agency has not released a complete public list naming every affected school.
The 84 physical-location schools identified by state do not account for all of the providers included in Duffy’s total. DOT said 23 additional training providers operated online and had no physical location. Those providers were also included in the federal action, although Duffy ordered a review of them rather than identifying them by state.
The 84 physical schools and 23 online providers add up to 107, three fewer than the 110 schools cited in the secretary’s announcement. Federal officials have not explained the difference in the totals.
State-by-state breakdown
- Texas: 13
- Pennsylvania: 13
- California: 11
- Florida: 10
- Utah: 9
- Ohio: 7
- New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin: 3 each
- Arizona: 2
- Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia: 1 each
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Derek Barrs said each school targeted for emergency removal had trained at least 10 drivers who were later cited during roadside inspections for English-language proficiency violations. Federal rules require entry-level driver training providers to teach these requirements and certify that trainees meet applicable standards before completing training.
The issue matters to professional drivers because English-language proficiency is a federal safety requirement for commercial operators. Drivers must be able to communicate with safety officials, understand traffic signs and signals, respond to official inquiries and read and understand trucking-related documentation.
When training providers certify drivers who do not meet those requirements, the consequences can extend beyond the school itself. Drivers may face roadside enforcement, out-of-service orders or difficulty maintaining their commercial driving privileges. Carriers and other motor carriers also face disruption when drivers are removed from service after being trained and certified by a provider that federal officials later determine failed to meet its obligations.
Barrs cited two schools during Monday’s announcement. He said ASC Technical Institute in Texas had certified 58 drivers who were later cited for English-language proficiency violations. Barrs also said one former trainee was involved in a fatal Texas crash after running a stop sign.
He identified Platinum Plus Truck Driving School in California as another example, saying it had certified 36 drivers who were later cited for English-language proficiency violations. According to Barrs, one of those trainees was involved in a fatal crash in Oklahoma.
The federal action follows a larger enforcement effort focused on commercial drivers who fail English-language proficiency inspections. DOT said more than 28,000 commercial drivers have been placed out of service for such violations since June 2025. The agency said the number pointed to failures involving third-party testers and state oversight programs.
The crackdown also expands the federal government’s investigation into potential criminal activity involving the trucking industry. The agency’s state breakdown provides the first detailed picture of where the affected physical training providers were located, with the largest concentration in states that are major centers of trucking activity.
