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Muskogee’s next step is to secure a budget, somehow, to implement tablets for turn-by-turn bus routing and to select a subscription-based app so parents can track students on bus routes in real time.
MANDATORY SEAT BELT LAW IN TEXAS Tragic school bus fatalities weighed on the minds of Texas voters and legislators, who voted in support of “Ashley and Alicia’s Law,” a 2007 measure named after two high school student-athletes killed when their bus overturned on the way home from a softball game. Subsequent campaigns by anguished family members and law
enforcement led to a new state requirement, effective Sept. 1, that requires three-point seat belts on newly purchased model-year 2018 or later school buses. Te law stopped short of requiring buses man- ufactured without seatbelts before 2018 be retrofitted. While the new law offers no extra state funding to districts for
new bus purchases, which a preceding law promised but never delivered, the addition of three-point seat belts increases vehicle cost. Districts that cannot afford seat belts on older buses can opt out of the requirement if they hold a vote during a public school board meeting. So, the funding burden falls heavily on Texas voters. However, historically, Texas voters have supported proposals for school transportation, which emphasize safety, environment and efficiency. “When voters support their district’s transportation needs, hundreds to thousands of students are less likely to be rid-
ing a school bus manufactured during the previous century,” said Jack De Forrest III, executive director of transportation for North East Independent School District near San Antonio. Forrest said that voters for many years have approved transporta- tion bond issues for North East ISD, which has enabled predict- able management of the bus fleet. Te district’s fleet replacement plan is designed to maintain a 15-year bus replacement cycle, and having a voter approved budget available for a three- to five-year future purchase plan ensures that goal is maintained. Voters also have offered strong support for student transportation
in the Austin Independent School District, which has a 14-year or 250,000-engine-mile replacement plan for school buses. About 350 buses in the 500-vehicle fleet already are equipped with three-point seat belts. While the district got a head start on seat belt funding when the state briefly offered it to districts following the enactment of the 2007 law, voters have approved bond issue proposals dating back to 2004. Public funding also has gone into digital cameras, live GPS and stop arm cameras used to issue citations to motorists who illegally pass buses while students are loading or unloading. Communities are now bracing for Nov. 7, when voters go back to the polls in elections around Texas. Te Texas Comptroller’s Office reports there will be more than 100 municipal bond pro- posals, including public transportation, school renovations, sports complexes and flood control.
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Safeguard Superstar 26 School Transportation News • NOVEMBER 2017
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