CARNATION, Wash. -- Do you know who's driving your kids to school?

A KOMO 4 Problem Solver investigation first uncovered statewide safety flaws last February when we found local bus drivers behind the wheel without a valid license, including two drivers from the Tacoma School District and one from Seattle's school district.

Now, eight months later, we checked all 10,600 public school bus drivers again, and we found another driver doing the same thing.

"There is no process to alert us," says Riverview School District Transportation Director Tom Bishop.

But why? Especially after we exposed Marvis Bailey.

Bailey drove for the Seattle School District on a suspended license. And that's not all; he had 5 speeding tickets in 3 years -- that alone should have kept him out of a school bus.

We also determined he faked his driving record.

For months, Bailey put kids at risk. No license means no insurance.

Our initial investigation uncovered the problem: school districts rely on an honor system. If a driver loses his license after being hired and doesn't tell, then no one knows.

As a result of our investigation, the state put a new Washington Administrative Code on the books stopping drivers from supplying their own records and warning all districts to be vigilant.

Which is why we were surprised when we checked school district rosters in July and September and found 13 suspended licenses. Including one driver who for months hauled kids on a bad license in Tom Bishop's district in Carnation.

Had he known?

"I would have taken her off the road," insists Bishop.

The driver told me she had no idea. She happened to pull her credit history and found a single unpaid speeding ticket suspended her license.

By law, districts only have to check a driver's status once a year. But Bishop says sometimes DOL records aren't current.

"Something better can be done," says Bishop.

We came up with this idea: Why can't the Department of Licensing electronically notify the head of transportation every time a bus driver's license is suspended? Link the two state databases together and talk to each other?

Turns out they can. Seems no one ever thought of it.

"Systems just continue until someone realizes, hey, there's a smarter way to do this," says the Department of Licensing's Brad Benfield.

DOL told KOMO 4 News they'd do it, but needed money to enhance the system.

We went to the state Legislature.

"I was a little appalled when I watched your show," says 10th District Senator Mary Margaret Haugen of Camano Island. She chairs the Washington Senate's Transportation Committee. It appropriated $350,000 to electronically flag driving records for insurance carriers.

Haugen says thanks to our investigation, schools can use it too.

The new system is going to track every bus driver in the state. The moment DOL knows a bus driver's license is suspended, its database will send up an electronic red flag and beam that information to the database for State School Transportation Department. Automatic notifications will override the honor system and get illegal drivers off the road.

"We need to know these people are safe drivers," says Benfield.

No more Marvis Baileys for any school district, and no more surprises for the state head of transportation, Allan Jones.

"I'm absolutely thrilled with the news," says Jones.

He's been working closely with DOL on automatic notification. "I'm very hopeful we're gonna get this to work and so all drivers will be in compliance," says Jones. "You did expose a problem out there, I think it's great for us and great for the children of the state."

The state hoped the notification system would be up and running by September -- it's now looking more like January. The state agencies are waiting on the state attorney general's blessing.

The overwhelming majority of Washington school bus drivers are safe and legal. Most school districts we talked to sing the praises of their drivers, insisting being behind the wheel with a bus full of children is one of the hardest jobs at any school.

We'll keep you posted on what happens next.