Some Texas school districts struggling with costs of complying with school bus seatbelt law

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The state continues to enact laws and mandates to make schools safer, but school districts are struggling to fund the costs of compliance.

One of the state's latest efforts in school safety is SB 546, which requires districts to equip all buses with three-point seat belts by September 2029 and to report to the Texas Education Agency the cost of outfitting buses with the new seat belts. But under the mandate, districts must pay for the upgrades themselves.

ABC13 checked in with school districts across the area and found that of those who responded to our inquiry, most say they can't afford it.

Eyewitness News heard this from large districts like HISD, which said it would cost over $29 million to comply.

"The administration requests the school board's permission to seek an exemption from state bill 546," a HISD administrator said at a May board of managers meeting.

This sentiment is echoed by smaller districts like Splendora ISD, which said it doesn't have the nearly $6.5 million needed to update all its buses at once.

ABC13 spoke with districts that also looked at what it would take to phase out buses rather than a total overhaul. Pearland ISD said it would take 11 years at its current bus phase-out rate to comply.

The hope that ABC13 heard, echoed in school board meetings, is that the state will see that districts can't afford this and find a way to fund it.

"There may be a sticker shock, and you know, the legislature says there's no way that we can fund this. And they have the magic to make changes and make that section of the law go away. They may come up and say, " You know what, that's a lot of money. It's a lot of vehicles, but we've got this money, we can fund it," A Pearland administrator said in a December board of managers meeting.

ABC13 reached out to the TEA to see how many Texas districts were telling them they could not afford the update. The TEA said they are still compiling information and hope to know by the end of the year.