Waco ISD and Killeen ISD weigh SB 546 bus costs, Kisd deadline

kisd districts are moving toward compliance with Senate Bill 546, which requires three-point seat belts on all school buses by 2029. In Waco, the district is reviewing its fleet to decide which buses already meet the standard and which will need upgrades or replacement.

Monquoe Brock, the acting director of transportation for Waco ISD, said, "Waco ISD plans to be in compliance with the new Senate Bill" and added, "They do have up until 2029 to make sure that all fleet is in compliance."

Waco ISD fleet review

Waco ISD is in the implementation phase and has been pursuing grant funding to help offset the cost. Brock said, "Any time any large project is implemented, the money has to come from somewhere" and, "So those are decisions that the board and the district will look into and make sure that they’re properly allocating resources to make sure that we are in compliance."

She also said the district is comparing vendor pricing and bus eligibility as it works through the fleet review. Brock said, "I think a lot of what we ran into ourselves in the beginning was vendors’ pricing, comparing if the buses are eligible, if we can get a better price from one vendor, didn’t we get that the other just to make sure that we’re getting the district the best price to make sure that we can get all the buses into compliance".

Killeen ISD costs

Killeen ISD trustees said implementation of three-point seatbelts on all school buses is not feasible within the district’s current budget at this time. The district said about half of its buses already have three-point seat belts, but retrofitting and replacing the rest would cost $10.2 million.

That leaves districts balancing the same deadline with different starting points. Waco ISD is still sorting buses into compliant and noncompliant groups, while Killeen ISD has already put a dollar figure on the remaining work and tied it to current budget limits.

Senate Bill 546 deadline

Texas school districts have until 2029 to make sure all school buses meet the three-point seat belt requirement under Senate Bill 546. For affected families and district leaders, the practical next step is not a new policy debate but fleet-by-fleet planning: which buses can be kept, which must be replaced, and how the money will be found.