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Chapel Hill ISD board finds budget cannot fund full seat-belt upgrades required by Texas Senate Bill 546
Summary
After a presentation from the director of transportation, the board approved a finding that the district’s current budget cannot support full replacement or immediate retrofitting of buses with three-point seat belts and directed staff to submit required documentation to the Texas Education Agency.
The Chapel Hill ISD Board of Trustees on April 20 approved administration’s recommendation that the district’s current budget cannot support a full upgrade to new, three-point-seat-belt-equipped buses or the immediate retrofitting of existing bus seats as required by Texas Senate Bill 546. The motion passed 6-0 with one trustee absent.
Sarah Birdsong, Director of Transportation, outlined the compliance steps the district must take, saying the district must submit "a bus fleet inventory indicating seat belt types," a cost estimate to upgrade all buses to three-point seat belts, and board meeting minutes confirming whether the current budget supports compliance by the 2029 deadline. Trustee Rickey Mosley moved the motion and Dr. Amy Hayes seconded.
The board’s action is a formal determination under state guidance that triggers reporting to the Texas Education Agency through the Sentinel system; it does not itself order purchases or retrofits. The district will now produce the inventory and cost estimate Birdsong described and include the board’s minutes in the TEA submission.
