Hays CISD to buy 30 new school buses, retrofit old buses for student safety

New school buses and added bus seatbelts are coming to the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.

HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — New school buses and added bus seatbelts are coming to the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.

At its Monday meeting, the Hays CISD board of trustees unanimously approved the $4.7 million purchase of 30 new school buses, which will have seatbelts. The board also approved about $397,000 to retrofit seatbelts on 13 older school buses.

The accelerated bus purchases and added seatbelts come after a deadly crash involving a Hays CISD school bus in March. The crash killed one Hays prekindergarten student and the driver of a car behind the bus.

The Hays school bus involved did not have seatbelts. The district previously said this bus was a 2011 model, which predated a 2017 state law requiring seat belts on school buses.

Max Cleaver, the district's chief of operations, said the 2025 model buses will arrive in about 12 months. The buses will likely be delivered over several weeks. The new buses will be funded from the 2023 voter-approved bond.

Cleaver said the district hopes to install the retrofitted seatbelts before the next school year.

In a letter to Hays CISD families, the district said it will have more buses arriving soon and in the coming months in addition to the bus purchase approved Monday. A district spokesperson also said every bus used on regular routes will have seatbelts as of this week.

Previously, the district said it would accelerate its bus replacement cycle to "have a bus fleet fully equipped with seatbelts at the absolute soonest possible date.”