Education
BY BRITTANY ANDERSON
Education Edition
2024
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Education Edition! This guide features the latest updates and resources about local K-12 public school options in your community, ranging from new campuses to budget details to bond elections. All of the stories were written by our team of local journalists, and all of the advertisements are from nearby businesses who support our mission to provide free, useful news—show them your gratitude by supporting them. Whether you have children in local districts, are a local resident or business owner, or are a student or alumni of Texas State University, our Education Edition includes information that is relevant to everyone. In this edition, we explore the district budgets for the 2024-2025 scal year, new buses for Hays CISD, and an update on Texas State expansion on campus.
What's inside
Learn how a nonpro t preserves Hispanic history in San Marcos (Page 17)
Leslie Bradshaw General Manager lbradshaw@ communityimpact.com
Learn about what will be on the November ballot in San Marcos CISD (Page 18)
Read about Texas State University’s plans to build a hotel in San Marcos (Page 21)
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Hays CISD implements seat belt campaign, awaits new buses At an April 22 meeting, the board approved the purchase of 30 buses for $4.7 million from the 2023 bond. The new buses would enter the eet over the next few months and continue into the 2025-26 school year. The breakdown HCISD Director of Transportation Cassandra Behr
Hays CISD leaders have taken steps to ensure all buses in the district’s eet are equipped with seat belts following a fatal crash involving a Tom Green Elementary school bus in March. As the district awaits the delivery of 40 new buses with seat belts, the transportation depart- ment has implemented a “Seatbelt is Your Buddy” seat belt campaign to remind and encourage students to wear their seat belts on the bus. HCISD Director of Transportation Cassandra Behr said the buses used as support eet are older models from 2012 and 2013 that do not have the proper ooring to support a seat with seat belts. Those will be auctioned o or sold to other districts instead of retro tted. Some context The board of trustees approved a ve-component plan to accelerate equipping all district buses with seat belts during a special board meeting April 15.
said of the district’s current bus eet: 163 have seat belts , a combination of general and special education buses 13 have been retro tted with seat belts , which were 2016 and 2017 models 87 do not have seat belts and are used as support eet
Behr said this is on top of the ten buses ordered last August—which are currently in production— bringing the number of buses ordered and await- ing delivery to 40. Buses take about 14 months to be delivered after they are ordered, she said. Staying prepared A video was shared with students on how to properly wear bus seat belts, and students got to practice at elementary meet the teacher night. The Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee could call for a May 2025 bond. While a bond has not yet been discussed, Behr said 20 to 30 buses would be a comfortable number added to the eet.
SOURCE: HAYS CISD COMMUNITY IMPACT
“We did request to have additional buses put in [the bond], and part of that is for continued growth as a district. And then
just to make sure that we have enough support eet [with] buses that have seat belts.” CASSANDRA BEHR, HCISD DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION
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SAN MARCOS BUDA KYLE EDITION
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