The Pittsburgh Public Schools board voted 9-0 Wednesday to approve a Sept. 3 start date.
It's the second change to the district's first day of school in eight days.
On August 10, the district rescheduled the first day of school to Sept. 8 from August 25 to help solve a bus driver shortage that left almost 11,000 students without a ride to school.
After an outpouring of criticism from parents over the last week, the district announced the second change Wednesday, moving the first day of school to Sept. 3.
In a robocall to families, the district said it feels a Sept. 3 start date will give it enough time to implement strategies to improve the bus driver shortage, while getting kids back to school as quickly as possible.
At Wednesday night's school board meeting, board member Pam Harbin said the bus driver shortage left no other choice but to delay the start of school.
"I do want to start on 8-25, and I do wish we could, but I also do believe that we need to not start school until all of our students can be transported," she said.
The district said it's using the extra time to onboard more bus drivers, transfer more students to Port Authority transportation and expand walk zones.
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has been critical of the district's handling of the bus driver shortage. Wednesday, he said he was pleased the district moved the start date to Sept. 3, but still had questions.
"I'm happy to hear it's five days sooner, but I would like to know why this wasn't dealt with over the summer," he said. "There's 43 school districts in Allegheny County, not to mention the private and charter schools, and yet there's one district that said 'we couldn't find enough bus drivers.'
Prior to the vote Wednesday, Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet committed to improving communication from the district.
"I want to, as your leader, publicly apologize for the undue stress and ill will that we've caused to our students, our families, our faculty and staff, our personnel," he said. "That's something that we definitely do not want to do. We do not take it lightly and that's something we will definitely consider in the future."
The next step is for the school board to approve staggered daily start times to allow drivers to pick up more routes. First, the teacher's union will need to ratify that agreement Aug. 23.
Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers president Nina Esposito-Visgitis said she's pleased the district listened to parents, but hopes this is the final change.
"We are very focused now on our professional contract and getting a paraprofessional and technical clarical contract," she said.
She was also supportive of staggered start times.
"We want as many kids in the seats as we can, so we can go back to a five-day schedule," she said. "We're very anxious to get as many kids back as possible."
A bus driver shortage isn't the only issue facing the district. Chief technology officer Mark Stuckey said more than 5,200 laptops issued to students last year weren't returned.
"Not all devices will be ready on Sept. 3 to be handed out on Day 1 of school," he said.
The last day of school will be Thursday, June 16.