McAllen ISD outlines costs and financing options to meet Texas seat‑belt mandate
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Summary
Transportation officials told the McAllen ISD board that complying with Texas’ SB 546—requiring three‑point seat belts on buses by Sept. 1, 2029—will be expensive and multi‑year; staff presented retrofit and purchase costs plus several funding scenarios including maintenance tax notes and bond use.
McAllen, Texas — McAllen ISD transportation officials on Jan. 13 presented the board with a multi‑pronged plan to comply with Senate Bill 546, the state law that requires three‑point seat belts on buses transporting students.
Eduardo Barnhart, the district’s director of transportation, said the district operates 93 buses and transports roughly 5,000 students daily. “Our fleet consists of 93 yellow school buses,” Barnhart said. “Currently, about a third of our fleet has seat belts.” He told trustees the average bus life is about 11 years and the district logs roughly 1,000,000 miles a year on its buses.
Barnhart outlined unit costs the district is using for planning: about $191,000 to buy a new bus and roughly $45,000 to retrofit an existing bus with three‑point harnesses. He said retrofits are not possible for some older models and that manufacturers are indicating limited retrofit options for model years 2009 and older.
Financial adviser Miguel De Los Santos reviewed funding scenarios the board asked to study. Option A would increase the annual fleet replacement allotment from $500,000 to $1.8 million and include retrofitting a targeted group of buses; Option B would accelerate purchases over three years with a higher annual allotment; Option C would use a $5 million maintenance tax note to buy 25 new buses and retrofit additional vehicles; Option D would scale up the maintenance tax note to $10.5 million for more immediate replacement.
“Maintenance tax notes are a common borrowing method for school districts outside of a bond,” De Los Santos said, noting the district’s debt service profile and an assumption of roughly a 4% interest rate in preliminary illustrations. He said the district could issue notes in tranches, which spreads payments and helps avoid an immediate tax‑rate increase.
Board members pressed staff about how many buses remain to be upgraded. Barnhart said the fleet currently has 33 buses already equipped with seat belts; purchases and retirements could reduce the fleet to a projected 88 buses while achieving full compliance. Staff also noted possible TEA reimbursement grants targeted to retrofitting, though early indications suggest grants would likely cover retrofits not the purchase of new buses.
The presentation was informational; no vote on financing was taken. Administrators said the district is evaluating a mix of options — maintenance tax notes, repurposed fund balance, bond authority or future grant funding — to meet the 2029 compliance deadline.