Dangerous SC bus stops could move without school board approval if proposal passes
The South Carolina House voted Wednesday to allow the state’s education chief to overrule local school boards and move potentially dangerous bus stops.
The state superintendent of education could relocate a bus stop if she determines it’s at dangerous location under legislation approved Wednesday in a 101-8 House vote. And it would order the state to equip school buses with extended bus stop arms that cover an entire lane of traffic and can be easily seen by drivers.
The move was pushed by state Rep. Lin Bennett, R-Charleston, after the Charleston School District declined to move a bus stop she said parents complained was at a dangerous location on Johns Island.
“There’s one particular (stop) in my community, a main road, where a school bus stops and no one yields to the school bus,” Bennett said.
Only 10 buses in the state have the extended arms, and adding them to all buses in the state would cost about $10.6 million, according to an analysis from the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.
Ryan Brown, spokesman for the education department, said the agency generally does not want to get involved in the placement of bus stops as local districts know their areas best.
Brown said the department does agree that giving parents a way to appeal a school district decision can be helpful if a dangerous location is selected.
State Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, told Bennett Wednesday that he worries about taking away a local school district’s authority to move a school bus. He later voted to support the legislation.
“Either we’re going to elect school boards and let them make decisions,” Ott said, “or we’re not.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Dangerous SC bus stops could move without school board approval if proposal passes."
