Close to 4 out of 10 school buses across six Corpus Christi school districts don’t have three-point seat belts.
While most of these school buses without sufficient seat belts are not being used regularly, children do ride on some.
Under a new state law, schools will have to replace or retrofit these buses over the next three years to ensure all have three-point seat belts.
With no word yet from the state on how it will help fund this requirement, school leaders are planning to take on the additional cost.
Last spring, Texas lawmakers tasked schools across the state with assessing how many school buses have seat belts and whether school districts have room in the budget to ensure all school buses have seat belts.
The law was inspired by a fatal 2024 crash involving a Hays Consolidated Independent School District school bus near Austin. A cement truck crashed into the school bus, which was carrying pre-K students for a field trip and did not have seat belts. A 5-year-old student was killed, as well as a driver in another vehicle.
Data indicates that school buses are safer for students than riding to school in a car.
School buses have closely spaced seats that absorb energy. This compartmentalization design is effective in frontal and rear impacts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
But when a school bus is hit on the side or rolls over, the collision can jostle passengers out of their seats.
Three-point seat belts cross over the lap and shoulder. A two-point seat belt, which would not meet the new Texas requirements, crosses only over the lap.
School boards have until May 29 to hear a public report on seat belt requirements and make a formal determination on compliance with seat belt requirements. All of Corpus Christi’s school districts have completed this task.
The Texas Education Agency is collecting this information and will calculate the total amount of financial assistance needed for all school districts to comply. The law doesn’t provide funding to help school districts meet the seat belt requirements yet, but school districts are hopeful funding might be allocated at a future date.
The law also authorizes school districts to accept gifts, grants or donations. School districts have until September 2029 to ensure all school buses have three-point seat belts.
School bus seat belts in Corpus Christi ISD
Most of the Corpus Christi Independent School District’s school buses are equipped with three-point seat belts. But a substantial portion of the fleet isn’t.
Out of 176 buses, 118 have three-point seat belts. Thirty-eight have two-point seat belts. Twenty have no passenger seat belts.
Two years ago, Corpus Christi ISD told the Caller-Times that buses without seat belts are spare vehicles that are rarely used and would be taken out of service. However, the 2026 report indicates that most of those buses haven’t yet been removed.
“Buses with no seatbelts or two-point seatbelts are used sparingly, such as in the event a route bus goes in for regular maintenance intervals and repairs,” chief communications officer Leanne Libby said in an email. “While we do not notify families, we want to assure them that, the majority of the time, our students are on buses equipped with seatbelts.”
Corpus Christi ISD’s bus fleet includes three sizes, serving 71, 44 and 14 passengers.
For the large buses, 66 have three-point seat belts and 15 have no passenger seat belts. For the mid-sized buses used for special education, 47 have three-point seat belts and 30 have two-point seat belts. For the small activity buses, five have three-point seat belts, eight have two-point seat belts and five have no seat belts.
The district estimates it would cost $2.4 million to retrofit every school bus that doesn’t currently have a three-point seat belt. If the district replaces each bus, it would cost $6.6 million.
In most cases, the district plans to replace buses. This is because most of the buses without appropriate seat belts are near the end of their useful life, Transportation Director Kyle Pelichet told the school board.
This year, the district has replaced 10 school buses. Six of these new buses have arrived and four are still on order.
Next year, it plans to replace 14 school buses that date to 2009 through 2013. For five activity buses dating to 2015 and 2016, the district plans to retrofit the vehicles with seat belts.
During the 2027-28 school year, the district plans to replace 15 school buses, 2013-2015 models. The final 14 school buses, which include 2013-2015 models, will be replaced in the 2028-29 school year.
The average age of buses being replaced is 14 years old.
Beyond the requirement, the district is already behind in the cycle of replacing buses because it went two years without purchasing new buses between 2018 and 2020.
School board member Don Clark questioned whether replacement makes more sense due to concerns about the feasibility of retrofitting. Karen Griffith, deputy superintendent of business and support services, said that the board can reconsider the retrofits at a later date with an amendment.
The Texas Education Code requires that school districts require students to wear a seat belt if the bus is equipped with seat belts for all passengers on the bus.
School board members Alice Upshaw Hawkins and Marty Bell expressed concerns about children unbuckling their seat belts.
Other Corpus Christi school districts
Of all the Corpus Christi school districts, the Flour Bluff Independent School District is in the best position regarding school bus seat belts.
The district has 49 total school buses, including seven special education buses and one activity bus. Four total buses do not have three-point seat belts. According to a school board presentation, two of these buses are not used and two are spare buses.
These unused and spare buses will be phased out.
During an April school board meeting, the Calallen Independent School District’s school board passed a resolution indicating that the district doesn’t have sufficient funds to purchase 13 new buses with three-point seat belts. It estimates this would cost over $2.2 million.
The West Oso Independent School District school board also determined it cannot afford to replace its buses without seat belts.
West Oso ISD Chief Financial Officer Olga Mendez told the board that the vendor the district had approached for retrofit estimates said it did not recommend that option due to liability concerns and the age of the buses.
The two buses without seat belts are the district’s oldest buses.
In order to comply, the London Independent School District plans to retrofit three buses and replace four buses for a combined cost of more than $635,000, taking care of about two buses per year.
The Tuloso-Midway Independent School District plans to sell nine buses before next school year. That still leaves four special education buses with only two-point seat belts and 15 large buses without seat belts. The oldest of these buses dates to 2005, though half are post-2010 models.
In an email, Patrick Hernandez, Tuloso-Midway ISD assistant superintendent for district operations, shared the same concerns about the safety of retrofitted seats brought up by other school districts.
Replacing 19 buses will cost more than $3 million.
Hernandez said that a school bond election recently approved by voters could contribute to bus replacements.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi schools to equip buses with proper seat belts under new law
Reporting by Olivia Garrett, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
