A new Texas law requires all school buses be equipped with three-point seat belts by September 2029.
But much sooner than that 鈥� the end of next month 鈥� school boards , bus fleet size and additional information to the Texas Education Agency, toward compliance with .
Lawmakers provided no funding for school districts to meet the new requirement.
鈥淭his would be considered an unfunded mandate," Plano ISD Deputy Superintendent Johnny Hill told trustees at a March 24 board meeting. Hill concluded the TEA may already expect districts will find compliance to be 鈥渃ost prohibitive.鈥�
In Plano ISD鈥檚 case, 216 of the 314 school buses in its fleet already comply with the law. Of those that don't, most lack any seatbelts. Nineteen have lap belts only.
Plano ISD estimates it would cost a little more than $16 million to replace all buses that lack three-point seat belts. Retrofitting them would cost $6.6 million.
Hill said he hopes and expects the May reporting deadline will give lawmakers enough time to find the money in future legislative sessions to help pay for this seat-belt law.
Attorney Mark Tilley, who heads legal services for the Texas Association of School Boards, hopes so too. In his more than two decades practicing education law, he said he can鈥檛 recall seeing a law like this, with years built into compliance.
鈥淭hey could very well have said, you've got to get all your buses in compliance by 2029, period,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淪o this does give some hope that they're planning to look at what the price tag is and help out.
鈥淭hey wouldn't have put a required report to the legislature if there wasn't some intent of the legislature to do something about it,鈥� he added.
The law, written partly in response to a fatal 2024 accident involving a Hays CISD school bus that killed a pre-kindergartener, includes an exemption allowing two-point seat belts if a district shows it can鈥檛 afford to make the switch. It also allows districts to accept gifts, grants and donations to cover the cost of installing three-point seat belts.
That鈥檚 the direction Allen ISD trustees are considering. The board voted last week to direct staff to research all funding options, including grants.
Superintendent Robin Bullock, speaking during a meeting earlier in March, said the state 鈥渁lready burned鈥� the district once before when it tried to meet a previous unfunded safety mandate.
Bullock recalled rushing out to buy ballistic shields and other safety tools required under 2023鈥檚 House Bill 3.
鈥淭he grants became available afterwards,鈥� Bullock said. 鈥淲e sought reimbursement through those grants and we were denied because they were 鈥nly to purchase, not to be reimbursed.鈥�
Of the district鈥檚 138 buses, 39 are already equipped with three-point seat belts, according to board meeting documents. Allen ISD estimates it will cost $20.1 million to replace the other buses with SB546-compliant vehicles.
Retrofitting those that aren鈥檛 would cost Allen ISD an estimated $3.5 million. Both Allen and Plano ISD have said retrofitting won鈥檛 always be cost effective, especially on old buses due for retirement soon anyway.
Bill Zeeble is 四虎影院鈥檚 education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X .
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