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Hays CISD to speed up retrofitting and purchase of new buses
BASTROP – The Hays Consolidated Independent School District Board is acting fast to tighten safety measures following the March 22 double fatality collision.
Board members unanimously voted April 15 to adopt a plan retrofitting and accelerating the purchase of buses to ensure every district rider has a seatbelt to wear.
“I know we are still hurting and reeling from this disaster, and the healing will continue for some time. There are things that we can control and things we cannot control. Given the justified community concern, the district has committed to accelerating the normal bus replacement cycle to have a bus fleet fully equipped with seatbelts at the absolute soonest possible date,” said Board President Will McManus.
Jerry Hernandez, 43, was charged with criminally negligent homicide for the collision on Texas 21 that claimed the life of Tom Green Elementary preschooler Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, 5, and Ryan Wallace, 33.
According to investigative reports, the 2011 model bus involved in the accident was not equipped with seatbelts. The district began buying buses with seatbelts in 2017, when the state law changed and mandated fastening belts for any buses purchased thereafter.
“We may never know for sure if a seatbelt on the school bus would have made a difference for Ulises. But, if there is even a chance that it would have done so, Hays CISD must do more than is required – and we will,” an April 12 public release from the board said.
District leaders stated that Hays CISD has never shied away from safety concerns, but as it was in state compliance with the law, the issue of seatbelts was not raised prior to the incident. Building security and the prevention of acts of violence on campus remained a top pressing concern, according to the release.
“Since the crash, the district has heard from parents and community members on the seatbelt matter. Hays CISD is aware of the national debate about whether to equip school buses with seatbelts at all, given that buses are designed differently than passenger cars in terms of crash force absorption and that seatbelts may impede bus evacuations in crashes involving fire or underwater submersion. However, for the district, the debate is moot,” said representatives.
With a renewed and urgent understanding of the seatbelt concern, board members have developed a framework that will allow the district to achieve a completely seatbelt- equipped bus fleet as soon as possible.
The district employs 109 route buses for student transportation and 107 support buses primarily used for athletics and temporary replacements, as of the March 22 collision. Fifteen route buses and 87 support buses are not equipped with safety belts.
The district routinely uses about 40 support buses for the transportation of its 12,000 students, covering around 2.5 million miles each year, according to reports. On March 22, all Hays CISD routes were assigned buses with seatbelts, except for 15 of the regular education bus routes.
The district’s focus moving forward will be on the number of buses that are in service rather than the total number of district- owned buses. The fleet will likely place into service new buses with seatbelts before it can auction off older buses, sans the safety measure.
As the district grows, so do routes and requirements. Hays CISD’s target is set on 115 seatbelt- equipped route buses and 80 support buses.
“The number that will matter is the number of buses the district is actually using to transport children rather than the number of buses the district owns at any given time during this process,” said district representatives.
Hays CISD leaders decided to move forward with the plan despite its monetary demand. The current cost of a new school bus is roughly $160,000, and the retrofitting of 2012-17 models will require about $36,000 each.
The district is in the final receiving phase of 21 buses that are being outfitted with cameras, decals, numbering and GPS equipment, and by April 30 all regular route buses and 6 reserve fleet buses will have seatbelts, according to the report.
Funding for the new carriers was included in previously adopted bond measures.
Hays CISD also has nine 2017 model buses and four 2016 model buses that can be retrofitted. Reoutfitting older models would prove more difficult and fiscally impractical, added the report. $468,000 will be needed for the task, from bond interest money or surplus bond funds. No time estimate is confirmed, but this is likely much faster than purchasing new buses.
The 2023 Hays CISD bond, which was approved by voters, included approximately $1.5 million for the purchase of about nine 2025 model buses. The board’s recommendation is to accelerate the purchase of these buses.
The Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee will soon be putting items together for potential inclusion in a bond measure that would go to voters in May 2025. The recommendation would be to include at least 16 additional regular education buses to bring the spare bus fleet to the goal of 80, and six more buses to accommodate the anticipated increase in the number of bus routes in Hays CISD because of growth.
The district is working as fast as it can to purchase, receive and in-process new buses. In the meantime, buses without seatbelts will still need to be used, but as newer buses are placed into service, the buses without seatbelts will be cycled out of service.
“We may never know for sure if a seatbelt on the school bus would have made a difference for Ulises. But, if there is even a chance that it would have done so, Hays CISD must do more than is required – and we will.”
— Will McManus, Hays CISD board president
