The Texas school bus seat belt law requires three-point lap-and-shoulder belts on any school bus that is model year 2018 or later, and students riding a bus equipped with belts for every passenger must wear them. The rule sits in Texas Transportation Code Section 547.701, with the student-use requirement in Education Code Section 34.013. A district’s board of trustees can vote in a public meeting to buy buses without the belts if the budget won’t cover the cost, and a 2025 law added new disclosure rules when they do.
Which Buses the Rule Covers
Section 547.701(e) ties the requirement to the bus’s model year, not the purchase date. Model year 2018 and later buses operated by or contracted for a Texas school district must have a three-point belt for every passenger and the driver. Model year 2017 and earlier buses are exempt.1State of Texas. Texas Code TRANSP 547.701 – Additional Equipment Requirements for School Buses and Other Buses Used to Transport Schoolchildren A district that bought a leftover 2017 bus in a later year was never required to equip it.
The statute’s definition of “bus” is wide. It reaches standard route buses, school activity buses, multifunction school activity buses, and school-chartered buses, so a bus taking the band to a competition is covered the same as the morning route.2Texas Legislature Online. Texas Senate Bill 693 Buses a district contracts from a private operator fall under the rule too.
There is no retrofit obligation. A district can keep running its older fleet without belts until those buses are retired; the mandate only attaches to new purchases of model year 2018 or newer vehicles. In practice, that means seat belt coverage in a given district depends heavily on how quickly it replaces its buses.
When Students Have to Wear Them
If a bus is equipped with seat belts for all passengers, Education Code Section 34.013 requires any student riding a district-operated or district-contracted bus to wear one. The district may adopt a disciplinary policy to enforce that requirement.3State of Texas. Texas Code EDUC 34.013 – Bus Seat Belt Policy The statute does not spell out specific penalties, leaving the shape of enforcement to each district.
The obligation runs to the district to require belt use, not merely encourage it. If your child’s bus has belts, the expectation is that your child is buckled the entire ride, and any consequences for refusing come from the local student code of conduct.
One commonly repeated claim is that Texas law shields drivers and districts from liability when a student is hurt while not wearing an available belt. Section 34.013 contains no such protection, and the related statutes reviewed in this area do not contain that language either. A district that adopts a seat belt policy should not assume it carries blanket legal cover.
The Budget Opt-Out
The law gives districts a way out of the belt requirement for a given purchase. If the board of trustees determines that the budget does not permit buying buses equipped with the required seat belts, the board can vote to approve that determination at a public meeting, and the district may then buy buses without them.1State of Texas. Texas Code TRANSP 547.701 – Additional Equipment Requirements for School Buses and Other Buses Used to Transport Schoolchildren
Two things are required. The board has to make a formal budget finding, and it has to vote on that finding in a public meeting open to the community. An informal staff decision or a closed-door agreement does not satisfy the statute. Because the board members doing this are elected locally, the public meeting is where most of the real accountability sits.
Three-point belts typically add roughly $7,000 to $10,000 to the price of a new bus, which is why the exception exists. For a district buying a large order at once, the aggregate cost is the pressure point driving boards to consider the opt-out.
What Districts Now Have to Disclose
Senate Bill 546, passed in the 89th Legislative Session in 2025, tightened the disclosure rules around that opt-out. A district that invokes the budget exception must report to the Texas Education Agency by the end of the 2025–2026 school year, giving the estimated cost to equip every bus in the fleet with three-point belts.4Texas Education Agency. SB 546 Required Reporting on School Bus Seat Belt Costs
SB 546 also expanded what the board has to put on the table at the required public meeting. Along with the budget justification, the board must disclose how many of its buses have no seat belts, how many have two-point lap-only belts, and how many have three-point belts, plus the estimated cost of bringing the whole fleet up to the three-point standard.4Texas Education Agency. SB 546 Required Reporting on School Bus Seat Belt Costs The exception still exists, but opting out quietly is no longer an option.
Where Texas Sits Relative to Federal Rules
Federal law does not require seat belts on large school buses weighing more than 10,000 pounds. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration relies on “compartmentalization,” using tall, padded, closely spaced seat backs to protect students during a crash or sudden stop.5National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Interpretations – 2869o Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 222 sets seating and crash protection requirements but does not mandate belts on large buses; when manufacturers install them voluntarily, the belts and anchorages must meet federal performance standards.6eCFR. 49 CFR 571.222 – School Bus Passenger Seating and Crash Protection Small school buses under 10,000 pounds have long been required federally to have lap-and-shoulder belts.
Texas is one of only eight states that require seat belts on large school buses, which puts a Texas parent of a child riding a newer bus in a stronger protection posture than parents in most of the country. The practical takeaway for families is simple: check the age of the bus your child rides, and if it is model year 2018 or later, expect belts and expect the district to require your child to use them.