Local districts discuss school bus seatbelt replacements, financial impacts
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Local school districts have been discussing potentially costly seatbelt upgrades to school bus fleets in order to meet updated safety standards by Sept. 1, 2029, as outlined in a new Texas Senate bill.
Texas SB 546, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbot in June 2025 and made effective that September, requires public school districts to equip all school buses with three-point (shoulder, both sides of lap) seatbelts by Sept. 1, 2029.
Burnet Consolidated, Marble Falls, and Llano independent school districts have all discussed the senate bill’s financial impacts to decide whether or not each district can take on the cost of retrofitting their fleet.
Both BCISD and LISD came to the conclusion that they would likely not be able to take on the financial burden of replacing the seats, which would cost $918,000 and $660,000 respectively.
MFISD, which is sitting on approximately $3.2 million in 2025 bond funds, concluded that they would likely meet compliance requirements, and fully replace their 14 out-of-compliance buses using bond funds.
MFISD Transportation Director Gina Solorzano told the board at their April meeting that the bond funds were already budgeted to cover full replacements of several aging buses, and would not strain their budget. The quoted cost for the 14 new buses was $2.24 million.
As an extension of the bill, districts were allowed to determine whether their budget would not allow for the upgrades within the set deadline, potentially extending the timeline and opening up grant opportunities to meet compliance with SB 546.
The bill required that districts submit to the Texas Education Agency a statement and accompanying information if they believed they would not meet compliance by the end of the current school year.
The TEA will calculate the total assistance needed for all districts to meet compliance, and submit a report to the legislature for further action no later than Jan. 1, 2027.
“After all the reporting is turned in by the districts around the state, (the TEA) will see how much it would cost the state of Texas, and then you’ll probably see some grant opportunities,” BCISD Chief Financial Officer Clay Goering said at a March board meeting.