The seat belts on the bus go up in price as school districts wrangle with new law

It’s going to take time and no small amount of cash to equip local districts’ school bus fleets with seat belts according to new state law, and the project’s getting rolling now to be incompliance by Fall 2029.
“I was just looking at that and diving into it,” White Oak Superintendent Jack Parker confirmed Monday. After initial consultation with the district’s director of transportation, “We’re going to have discussions on that coming up in the near future.
“We did go ahead this summer and got some tentative prices from our bus companies. Without a firm price, it’s estimated between $30,000 and $50,000 per bus.”
Gladewater ISD’s a bit further down the road as far as the seat belt discussion. The district’s prepping for a total investment of about $2.6 million across the next several years to become fully compliant with Senate Bill 546.
Adopted this legislative session, the law requires every school district in Texas to equip each bus in their fleet (regardless of production year) with a three-point seat belt for every passenger and driver no later than Sept. 1, 2029. (An exception can be made for two-point if three is not feasible.)
As of right now, it’s another unfunded mandate for the schools; legislators are suggesting the general public foot the bill: “To assist with costs for implementation, school districts are allowed to accept gifts, grants, and donations from public or private sources.”
Needless to say, it’s going to be a bit expensive, Patty told her board, but hopefully there will be some additional funds injected by the state.
“We have another legislative session coming between now and then,” she said Oct. 20. “Who knows if this will totally go to fruition?”
Initial discussions at GISD are focusing on which buses to retrofit with seatbelts and which might be skipped considering the individual vehicles’ lifespans.
“The total proposed investment if we retrofit the seven buses is $286,000-plus dollars. 16 new buses would be $2.4 million,” Patty said. “You can see it’s going to be kind of expensive to do this.
“We have chosen not to include some buses because the retrofitting with seatbelts would cost more than the bus is worth. We think by the time we need to do this… these buses will be out of our fleet.”
Fortunately, she added, GISD doesn’t have as many buses as other districts across the state.
“I just don’t know where the money for this will come from. We’re putting the plan in place,” Patty concluded, then will wait-and-see. “I have no idea what will happen, but we’ve completed the part that we’re required to complete by January 2026.”