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VIDOR ISD staff outline $3.1M replacement or $1.16M retrofit bill under Senate Bill 546
Summary
District transportation staff told the VIDOR ISD board that Senate Bill 546 would require three‑point seat belts on all school buses by September 2029 and that replacing 20 buses could cost about $3.14 million while estimated retrofits for the district’s older buses total about $1.155 million; the district has applied for an $893,000 clean‑school‑bus grant that could reduce the local share.
VIDOR — At its Feb. 2 meeting, district transportation staff briefed the VIDOR ISD Board of Trustees on Senate Bill 546 and the district’s estimated costs to meet its requirements.
"First, it mandates that 3 point, seat belts have to be on all school buses," said Mr. Harper, the district’s transportation presenter, describing the provision that replaces the prior Transportation Code §547.701 and eliminates prior budgeted exceptions. He said the bill requires districts to report the cost to the Texas Education Agency through the School Safety Center (Sentinel) and set an implementation date of September 2029.
Harper told the board VIDOR ISD has 36 buses in its fleet, 16 of which already have three‑point restraints (including the special‑education buses). That leaves about 20 route and sub buses without three‑point belts. Based on the district’s recent purchase prices, buying 20 new buses with three‑point restraints would be roughly $3,140,000, Harper said.
As an alternative, the district obtained retrofit estimates. Harper said that 13 buses built between 2002 and 2009 would likely require floor replacement and other work, at a ballpark of about $70,000 each (approximately $910,000), while seven buses from roughly 2010–2017 could be retrofitted for about $33,000 each (about $240,000). Taken together, he estimated a full retrofit of the identified buses at roughly $1,155,000.
Board members asked about timing and logistics. "Is that done in house or is this contracted out?" a trustee asked; Harper replied crews would be contracted to perform on‑site work and that retrofits could typically be done over a summer, subject to an on‑site evaluation.
Harper said the district applied for a Texas clean‑school‑bus/emissions grant (a first‑come, first‑serve program) and that VIDOR ISD’s package requested $893,000 covering 10 of the oldest buses. He cautioned the board that the grant outcome was uncertain and that other federal or state funding sources might surface.
No action was taken at the meeting; administration said the presentation was intended to inform later budget decisions. Harper warned that the board will need to decide whether to budget for replacement buses, pursue retrofits, pursue grants, or a mix of those approaches; the district’s long‑term facility plan currently budgets for two new buses per year.
Next steps identified by staff include completing on‑site retrofit evaluations, tracking grant awards, and returning to the board with refined cost scenarios and a schedule for reporting the district’s decisions to TEA by the May reporting window.
