Each Eanes ISD bus will include a tablet with the SMART Tag application, which is used to scan student badges and record ridership. Each Eanes ISD bus will include a tablet with the SMART Tag application, which is used to scan student badges and record ridership.[/caption]

The board of trustees on April 4 approved the purchase of a SMART Tag system using projected surplus funds from the district's 2015 bond, originally allocated to purchase new buses.

The SMART Tag system is a computer application and database that could increase efficiencies in transportation, campus dismissal and student safety, said Jeremy Trimble, Eanes ISD chief operations officer.

With the SMART Tag system, each student in the district would receive a badge used to check in and out of buses each day, Trimble said. Bus drivers would be alerted if a student was getting onto the wrong bus or if a student was getting off at the wrong stop, he said. Bus drivers would also be able to review student medical information and see the names of a student’s legal guardians while the student is on the bus, he said.

Parents would have access to their student’s profile and could review their child’s riding history, Trimble said. SMART Tag can also send alerts to a parent’s cell phone about when a bus is expected to arrive at a stop, he said.

SMART Tag tracks buses using GPS, and the district would have access to live information about bus routes and daily ridership, Trimble said.

More accurate ridership information could result in an increase in state transportation funding for the district, he said.

Trimble said the district is currently working with SMART Tag to outfit the badges to be used as library cards, for cafeteria meal purchases and as an attendance tool during possible emergencies in the future.

“We believe this is one of the most technologically advanced and comprehensive platforms out there today,” Trimble said. “It would improve [district] safety, security, efficiency and accountability.”

The startup cost for the system is $121,655, which involves purchasing new technology, including tablets for buses and the student badges, he said. The district would pay $28,900 in the second year of operation, and an annual recurring cost of $36,100 beginning in the third year of operation, he said.

SMART Tag technology will be implemented at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, Trimble said.

A campus dismissal module, which would allow parents to notify the district of alternative transportation arrangements on a day-to-day basis through the SMART Tag application,  is also in the works and could be ready by the fall, he said.