Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Pearland ISD tells TEA it cannot immediately afford to meet new seatbelt mandate for school buses
Summary
After a staff inventory found 126 noncompliant buses, Pearland ISD trustees approved a resolution reporting the district—s SB 546 findings to TEA and stating the district is not financially able to retrofit or replace all buses immediately; staff estimated replacement costs at about $18.9 million or retrofits at about $4.28 million for eligible vehicles but warned of parts and labor constraints.
District transportation staff told the Pearland ISD Board of Trustees on Dec. 9 that new state requirements under Senate Bill 546 (effective Sept. 1) remove the prior model-year exemption and require three-point lap-shoulder belts on all school-bus seat positions. The district presented the required inventory and cost analysis and asked the board to adopt a resolution to report the findings to the Texas Education Agency.
As of Dec. 1, 2025 staff said Pearland had 188 vehicles in the fleet: 62 fully compliant vehicles, 99 regular-education buses without three-point lap-shoulder belts (including spare and athletic buses), and 27 special-needs vehicles equipped with lap-only belts that do not…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
