Why Doesn't The Texas Education Agency Care About School Bus Safety?

Those of you that follow my blog know that I’m rarely excited about what goes on in the legislature. But the 2007 legislative session brought one great change. Following a tragic 2006 school bus crash, the legislature mandated that all school buses purchased after September 1, 2010 must have lap and shoulder belts to protect our kids.

That law was obviously slated to go into effect yesterday.  But now, the Texas Education Agency has slashed funding for the program, threatening its effect.  I’ve written a lot about school bus safety (and charter bus safety), and it really upsets me that the TEA is threatening the enforcement of this critically important legislation.

KXAN news reporter Josh Hinkle had a wonderful story about the issue last night, and he’s continued  the good work in his blog, where he summarized the Texas Transportation Institute’s study on the implementation of the bill.  For any of you interested in this, I urge you to read his blog and do what you can to help protect our kids.

His story is below: