BURTON SCHOOL BOARD DISCUSSES NEW SCHOOL BUS SEAT BELT REQUIREMENTS
The Burton School Board on Monday talked through options available to Burton ISD with new legislation requiring schools across the state to update their buses with new seat belts.
were recognized during Monday's Burton School
Board meeting.
Through Senate Bill 546 from the 89th Legislative Session, school systems must gradually work toward equipping school buses with three-point seat belts. Superintendent Vikki Curry said the seat belt requirement becomes effective September 1, 2029, but districts must take steps ahead of that time to submit information to the state on where their current bus fleet stands and how much it will cost to fully comply.
Curry said the district has four buses in its fleet that do not have seat belts, including two that are still in use and two that are older models which only see use when nothing else is available. According to Curry, the cost to outfit old buses with the new seat belts would range between $50,000 - $55,000 per bus, while the cost of a new bus – depending on the size and number of passengers – could cost between $110,000 - $170,000 with the appropriate seat belt system.
Curry said grant funding is available to help cover the cost of retrofitting the existing buses with the new seat belt system, but there are very few companies willing to do so because of possible liability issues coming from the older buses. Trustees did not feel going down that path would be cost-effective and added that any companies that do perform the retrofitting will likely want to get their money’s worth with a large fleet, rather than only a handful of buses.
While no official action was taken, the board agreed with Curry’s recommendation to pursue getting new buses. Curry noted that she expects many other school districts will be moving forward on this soon, which could impact the turnaround time for when the new buses would arrive.
Also at Monday’s meeting, trustees signed off on a resolution regarding parental rights and approved the district’s library materials selection process. They also authorized the purchase of library books and materials.
In October, the board discussed recent legislative changes stemming from Senate Bill 12 and Senate Bill 13 from the 89th Legislature, which are an extension of House Bill 900 from the 88th Legislature. The new laws pertain to parental rights in education and what is allowed to be included in public school libraries.
Curry said the district orders its books from a vetted publishing company that reviews books for age-appropriateness. She says the district also sends its book list to a library specialist at the Region 6 Education Service Center and puts the book list on the district website for parents to review. Approval from the board of trustees is required to order books.
In other business, the board gave unanimous approval to the Washington County Appraisal District Board of Directors to utilize surplus fund balance through a budget amendment to support appraisal district improvements.
Chief Appraiser Dyann White said the appraisal district has a surplus of approximately $310,870 that it primarily wishes to use for renovating its office space, which has not been updated since 1998. The appraisal district also seeks to replenish the appraisal district’s fleet, computer hardware replacement, and legal funds, and update the appraisal district website with videos for taxpayer education.
Trustees had the option to veto the proposed budget amendment, which, if a majority of other local taxing entities also did so, would require the appraisal district to propose a different amendment or refund the money to each taxing unit by percentage of their total levy. Burton ISD’s refund would have come out to $41,653.
Trustees acknowledged that the refund would be beneficial for Burton ISD, but they also agreed that the appraisal district has a strong need for the funding.
Additionally, board members recognized student groups involved in various fall sports and activities:
