HUTTO – Hutto Independent School District trustees had a lot to celebrate at the April board meeting, including news most of its school buses already meet state safety standards for seat belts.
Board members Thursday learned most of the transports are already equipped with required three-point seat belts, which means replacement costs will be minimal unless the state picks up the tab.
In other developments, a Hutto ISD kindergarten staffer was also the only teacher in Texas to receive a Milken Educator Award.
State Senate Bill 546 requires all school buses to have the three-point seat belts, also known as lap-shoulder belts, by Sept. 1, 2029. The restraints reduce injuries in an accident, including keeping occupants from being thrown from the vehicle in a rollover, directors heard.
The law was created after a concrete truck in Bastrop County hit a Hays Consolidated Independent School District bus in 2024, killing a 5-year-old student and the driver of another car.
“You guys (school board members) have done a really good job as far as taking bond funds and being proactive and putting us in a good position (with our buses),” said Dana Rosen, director of transportation.
Eighty buses in Hutto are 2019 models or newer. The district’s transports either have no seat belts or are already equipped with the required three-point seat restraints. Rosen noted the buses without seat belts are older models from the time when Texas didn’t require belts and are about to age out.
“On a regular replacement cycle, those are ready to go ahead and move on anyway,” Rosen said.
The Texas Education Agency has asked all Texas school districts to provide a report on whether buses meet state requirements and if financial assistance to purchase or retrofit buses is needed.
“We’re not quite where we want to be, but we are definitely standing on good ground,” Rosen said.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Jeni Neatherlin shared that earlier in the month, Howard Norman Elementary kindergarten teacher Olivia Joseph received the Milken Educator Award.
According to officials, Joseph is Texas’ sole recipient to be honored.
The awards, created by philanthropist Lowell Milken in 1987, “have rewarded and inspired excellence in the world of education by honoring top educators around the country with $25,000 unrestricted awards,” according to the nonprofit’s website.
The awards go to early-to-mid career education professionals “for their already impressive achievements and, more significantly, for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future,” the site added.
Joseph will travel to Washington, D.C., later this summer to attend an event for other Milken Educator recipients.
“This was such a surprise to us in the school system because I had never heard of the award before. We don’t know how she got it. It’s almost like a private investigator comes and finds the great teachers,” Neatherlin said.
Neatherlin added Hutto ISD also had 67 teachers at 12 campuses receive the Teacher Incentive Allotment, which is a TEA program that rewards high-performing educators.
“They’re going to get more pay. They’re showcasing where they are (as teachers). We’re so proud of them,” Neatherlin said.
In other business, Hutto ISD will hold a public budget workshop 5:30 p.m. June 25 to preview the maintenance and operations and debt-services tax rates and set the child nutrition budgets for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
School board meetings are held in the Administration Building Board Room at 200 College St.
The next regular meeting is May 28.
The open meeting begins about 7 p.m. after the board’s closed session, which starts at 6 p.m. Meetings can be streamed live or watched later at huttoisdtx.new. swagit.com/videos.
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On a regular replacement cycle, those are ready to go ahead and move on anyway.”
— Dana Rosen, Hutto ISD
