Local school districts say it’s not “financially feasible” to install three-point seat belts on all school buses, even though the state expects them to by the 2029-30 school year.
“This is a classic, classic unfunded mandate,” said John Craft, superintendent for Northside Independent School District. “If there is such a thing, this is textbook definition.”
Passed last year, Senate Bill 546 builds on school bus safety requirements by requiring that all buses have three-point seat belts, regardless of the year they were made. Before that, only buses made after 2018 were required to have the safety belts.
