McKinney ISD officials said the district does not have enough funds to comply with the new state-mandated seat belt bill.
Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations Dennis Womack gave a presentation on how Senate Bill 546 will impact the district at a May 18 meeting.
The big picture
Senate Bill 546 was passed during the 89th Texas Legislature and requires all buses owned or operated by school districts to have three-point seat belts for every passenger. School districts must comply with this new law by Sept. 1, 2029, but districts are required to state whether or not they can meet this requirement to the Texas Education Agency before May 29.
It would cost just under $6 million to replace all MISD buses that don’t have three-point seat belts, while retrofitting buses that don’t meet state requirements would cost $1.2 million, Womack said.
Based on current budget projections, the district does not have the resources to implement this bill without impacting current operations, according to Womack’s presentation.
Zoom in
Of the district’s total of 179 buses, the majority already have three-point seat belts and are compliant with the bill, according to Womack’s presentation.
Of the 38 buses without three-point seat belts, the majority have two-point seat belts, or lap belts, and there are very few buses in MISD’s fleet that have no seat belts, Womack said.
“There is no additional funding that was provided for Senate Bill 546 for the board to consider utilizing for either one; either to retrofit or to replace those [buses],” Womack said.
There will be a grant opportunity for eligible districts after the reporting period ends, but no additional information is available at this time, according to TEA documents.
The context
McKinney ISD is predicting a nearly $4 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2026-27.
“We’re still expected to have a deficit budget this year,” Womack said. “We finished last year at $10 million in a deficit, so any reallocation of existing funds in our M&O budget would have to come from other programs, which would negatively impact those programs.”
Quote of note
“It’s so ludicrous for them to mandate something and not give you funding for something,” trustee Larry Jagours said of the state Legislature.
