BUDA, Texas — The Hays CISD school board on Monday approved a plan to get all of the district's buses outfitted with seat belts as soon as possible.
On March 22, a Hays CISD school bus was involved in a crash in Bastrop County that resulted in the deaths of a 5-year-old boy and a University of Texas at Austin grad student. Other children and staff members were also injured.
The bus involved in the crash did not have seat belts. Hays CISD said as of March 22, all but 15 of its regular education bus routes were assigned buses with seat belts and all of the district's special education buses have seat belts.
The district said prior to the March 22 accident, the issue of seat belts on buses has not been a major community concern, compared to other issues like building security and preventing violence on campuses. However, since the crash, Hays CISD has heard from parents and community members about the issue of seat belts.
Because of this, the district has created a framework that will allow it to achieve a completely seat belt-equipped bus fleet as soon as possible.
Below is a breakdown of the plan.
Components 1 and 2: Existing received buses and bus orders
Hays CISD said it is currently in the final receiving phase of 21 buses that are being outfitted with cameras, numbering, decals and GPS equipment. Those buses will be coming online through the next couple of weeks and by April 30, Hays CISD expects that all regular route buses and six reserve fleet buses will have seat belts.
As for existing bus orders, the district is currently awaiting the receipt of eight additional regular education 2023 model buses from the manufacturer. The district also ordered seven regular education 2024 model buses from the manufacturer back in August. According to the district, the current turn-around from the purchase of a bus to its receipt is approximately a year, in part because there are only three major school bus manufacturers in the U.S.
Component 3: Retrofitting older buses
Hays CISD said it has nine 2017 model buses and four 2016 model buses that can be retrofitted with seat belts for about $36,000 each. The total to retrofit all 13 of those buses would be $468,000, which the district said could come from either bond interest money or surplus bond funds.
The district does not own any 2012, 2014 or 2015 model year buses that can be retrofitted, and while there are two 2013 model year buses in its inventory that could be retrofitted, the recommendation on those buses is to purchase new buses instead. Additionally, the district said retrofitting buses that are model years 2011 and older is "fiscally impractical," and funding that would be used to retrofit those older buses would be better used to buy new buses instead.
Component 4: Accelerating purchase of new buses
The voter-approved 2023 Hays CISD bond included approximately $1.5 million for the purchase of about nine 2025 model buses. The district is now proposing speeding up the purchase of these buses and using bond interest money or surplus bond money to purchase 21 more buses.
To do this, the district would need a total of $4.8 million – $1.5 million from the 2023 bond funds and another $3.3 million in bond interest or surplus bond money.
Component 5: Including transportation items in 2025 bond measure
Finally, the plan states that the district recommends including transportation items in a bond measure that would go to voters in May 2025. Those items could include purchasing 22 regular education buses and/or special transportation vehicles such as trip buses.
The plan states this would result in a needed funding amount of "at least $3.6 million, but likely more depending on the final number of buses and special transportation vehicles included in the bond measure."
During Monday's meeting, a couple of bus drivers said they are concerned about students not actually wearing the seat belts. The district said it plans to start a seat belt campaign.
"We're going to have to emphasize to the kids that you have to wear them, and we're probably going to need the help from parents to help us reinforce that," Tim Savoy, Hays CISD's chief of communication, said.
Savoy said the district will also get additional seat belt cutters.
"We are looking at things like adding extra seat belt cutters because we realize that the seat belt cutters we have are probably good to cut about three or four seat belts, and then they don't," Savoy said.