Lawmakers Reject Bill for Mandatory Heating & A/C on Louisiana Public School Buses

The Louisiana House has rejected legislation this week that called for all public school buses to have heating and air conditioning by 2027. The proposal would have also required that all school buses bought after August 1, 2024, have heat and air. State Senator Cleo Fields, D-East Baton Rouge, authored Senate Bill 26. As reported by the Louisiana Radio Network, bill supporters, including Rep. Robby Carter, D-Amite, contend the students need that air conditioning. “We need to make sure that we don’t have buses that have 100-degree temperatures in them while a kid may sit on it as long as two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.”
Many public school systems do not have air and heat on all of their buses. That’s according to a legislative fiscal analysis. That report cites specific school districts, including Calcasieu Parish, for example. Only two of their 44 school buses have air and heat. Some districts have turned to federal grants for help. The analysis shows that Ouachita Parish spent roughly $2,000,000 in grant funding to install heat and air on all of the 220 buses in their fleet.
By law, Louisiana public school buses must be replaced once they reach 25 years old. But the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) estimates buying a new bus with heat and air conditioning can increase the price by $10,000 to $15,000, per bus.
Representative Gabe Firment, R-Pollack, voted no on SB26. He and other detractors described the proposed legislation as an unfunded mandate. “Let the locals spend their money as they see fit,” as Pollack concluded, “Nobody cares more about their own kids than the people who live in that district. So, I don’t like this bill. Please vote against it. Thank you.”
After a roughly 90-minute debate, SB26 failed in a 57-to-42 vote. Three weeks earlier, Louisiana senators had approved the measure in a 33-to-4 vote, on May 1.