SPECIAL REPORT


SB546 does not provide state funding but allows a


temporary exemption if retrofit costs are too high, or retrofitting would void the bus manufacturer’s warranty. Districts are required to publicly report the reason for not ordering lap/shoulder seatbelts and estimated retrofit costs. Teri Mapengo, director of transportation for Prosper


Independent School District near Dallas, noted that while all 230 school buses in her fleet have lap/shoulder seatbelts, she cautioned other districts to do their home- work. At a previous district, she recalled the challenges of retrofitting seatbelts. The process is harder than specifying a new purchase


order. Instead, legacy buses must be taken out of service while retrofit work is conducted. Plus, she said it takes peoplepower and resources to deliver each bus to the facility, transport that driver back to the facility, then arrange for the bus to be picked up once the installations are completed. “The hard piece is, that you’re going to have to have


some of your buses go out of commission,” she said. “So, if you don’t have spare buses to be able to use for opera- tion, then it’s tough.” She noted that her previous district also encoun-


tered seat structure malfunctions when retrofitting. She recalled taping off seat rows to prohibit students from sitting in them due to safety concerns. Those buses had to be sent back again to be fixed. She noted the metal attachment that secures the seats at


the wall flange would break. Seats are also secured at the aisle floor pedestal. Every bus that was retrofitted would then need to be inspected by the mechanics to determine any deficiencies. “The biggest thing that I took away was, when you’re


going to retrofit your buses, you [need to be] talking with that company [doing the retrofit] and saying, ‘If this were to happen, how would we get this fixed? And is there a warranty on that work that you guys are doing?’” Because all Texas school buses manufactured and sold after 2018 should have seatbelts installed at this point, older buses may not be compatible with newer seats. Around 2014, school bus manufacturers offered seating options that allowed standard seatbacks to be upgraded to those with lap/shoulder belts, which is still an option today. Most older buses do not have options for retrofits or upgrades. “We were having a big issue with that in my previous


district, and so it was just having that communication with the company that we were working with, and they ended up still fixing all of those and then figuring out why that was happening,” she said. In conversations with other Texas transportation directors, she said many are hoping that the law will add


20 School Transportation News • APRIL 2026


a funding element, especially since Texas districts have received less funding than previously. Forty miles down the road, Jennifer Gardella sits in a


very different situation. The director of transportation for Rockwall Independent School District near Austin cur- rently has almost 50 school buses in need of retrofitting, at an estimated cost of nearly $1.5 million. She noted that the cost estimate depends on the school bus model and how the seats are attached. She, however, also shared concerns about the scope of


statewide installs. “If everyone is doing the retrofit, then how will the ven-


dors keep up with repairs and/or getting the buses back for the start of the school year?” she asked, adding that Rock- wall ISD doesn’t have extra activity buses or special program buses to be used as replacements.


Retrofit Decisions Not to Be Taken Lightly “School bus and seat manufacturers rely on specific


manufacturing and assembly processes to ensure their vehicles, seating and lap/shoulder seatbelts meet all applicable state and federal safety regulations,” explained Albert Burleigh, vice president of North America Bus Sales at Blue Bird. “School bus makers typically do not sanction or certify compliance of any aftermarket instal- lations or modifications made to the bus that changes the original seating configuration. Therefore, retrofitters need to conduct their own evaluations to ensure full compliance with all safety regulations. They bear full responsibility.” A spokesperson for Thomas Built Buses shared a sim-


ilar sentiment, noting that “school bus seating systems are engineered as an integrated structure that must meet specific safety standards for strength, crash perfor- mance, and so on.” They added that in many cases adding lap/shoulder


seatbelts requires replacement seats specifically de- signed and tested to accommodate those restraints, as well as proper attachment to the bus structure. “Thomas Built Buses certifies that each vehicle meets


all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards at the time it is manufactured but cannot attest to the com- pliance of items installed after that,” the spokesperson continued. For buses originally built with convertible seating


designed to accommodate future restraint upgrades, Thomas can provide technical guidance, the spokes- person said, adding that school districts and operators “should work closely with qualified vendors and ensure that any retrofit work is properly certified and compliant with all applicable regulations.” A spokesperson for IC Bus said the process of adding


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