After years of parental pressure, a law that goes into effect in
July will require all school districts in California to buy buses
equipped with seat belts.
Hollister – After years of parental pressure, a law that goes into effect in July will require all school districts in California to buy buses equipped with seat belts.
And although many local schools do not need to buy new buses any time soon, when that time comes, they can expect to shell out upwards of $10,000 more per bus than they do now.
The debate over how to best protect children on school buses has raged for years between parents, who have overwhelmingly supported the move, and administrators and agencies such as the California Association of School Transportation Officials, who say the buses are already safe because the seats are close together and made of rubber padding meant to shield children in case of an accident.
“The likelihood of injury is worse from belts that are not put on right than from bouncing your head on the foam rubber seat ahead of you,” said Gary Goularte, transportation supervisor at San Benito High School.
Goularte said that kids can’t be trusted to know how to put on their seat belts and could suffer internal injuries from belts that dug in to their abdominal area during a sharp stop or an accident. Unlike every other state that requires the precaution, the seat belts required by the California law are shoulder lapbelts – the same kind found in cars.
On any given day, the San Benito High School runs approximately seven buses which transport students to sports functions, fieldtrips and to and from home, if they live further than two miles from the school. Hollister School District does not have any of its own buses, but contracts them from Tiffany Motors, a local bus company. Aromas uses 14 buses to move its 1500 students around.
The California PTA has lobbied Congress for safety belts since the 1980s and many parents, including those in San Benito County, defend the new law.
“They said the same thing about seat belts in cars when it first became a law, but I think the chances are good that they will protect kids in an accident,” said Cara Denny, whose two daughters attend Aromas School.
But the new buses also mean decreased capacity – from over 80 seats per bus to 65 – because where there used to be room for three kids, only two will fit with seat belts. That means added routes for districts, more drivers that must be hired and more gas to fuel the yellow behemoths.
“This won’t affect us because we can’t fit more than two kids per seat here,” said Goularte. “But for elementary districts it means losing capacity by one third.”
The real issue is not whether lap belts are needed, but how districts will pay for them at a time of growing budget cuts, said John Green, a supervisor at the state’s Office of School Transportation. With an added cost of $10,000 each, Aromas-San Juan Unified School District, for example, will have to eventually spend $140,000 more than in the past to upgrade their buses when their 20-year lifespan expires. And that could become a problem, as schools are yet again faced with more unfunded state mandates.
“The legislature did not allocate any additional funding for it and the costs (resulting from new law) are not part of this year’s budget,” he said.
Districts now get transportation grants from local agencies such as the Monterey Air Pollution Board.
The seat belt law is the result of a 1999 Senate bill forcing bus manufacturers to install seat belts after a series of accidents that killed school children riding in buses. California is the only state that requires both lap and chest belts.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
