Katz Urges Passage of $100-Million Bill to Replace ‘Substandard’ School Buses

Calling aging school buses a “time bomb waiting to go off,” state Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda) has urged passage of a $100-million bill to replace older buses that do not meet latest federal safety standards.

The federal government set standards for school buses in 1977, but those already on the road were exempted. As a result, Katz said Tuesday, more than half of California’s 15,000 school buses are substandard because school districts do not have money to purchase replacements for the “archaic” vehicles.

“I think it’s outrageous that, nine years after the establishment of federal standards, we still have children riding daily on buses that are potential deathtraps,” he said.

Katz said pre-1977 school buses, unlike newer vehicles, have protruding metal bars and thin padding, which he said increase the chance of passenger injury in an accident.

$80,000 Per Bus

The $100-million grant is designed to pay for replacement of a third of California’s older buses, he said. But the state Department of Education estimates that, at $80,000 a bus, the proposed funding would be enough to replace only one-sixth of the older vehicles.

Katz said the money would come from the Petroleum Violation Escrow Account (PVEA), a fund fed by fines levied on oil companies for overcharges.

During his presentation at a California Highway Patrol office in Los Angeles, the four-term assemblyman gestured at graphic photographs of a 1963 school bus destroyed in a June, 1985, accident that led to the death of an 11-year-old Elk Grove boy and serious injury to 35 others. He spoke in front of a 1954 school bus used by the Torrance Unified School District.

CHP Inspects Annually

Barry Purdy, supervisor of transportation for Torrance schools, said Katz exaggerated the gravity of the problem of older buses and pointed out the CHP annually inspects every operational bus to ensure its safety.

“He kept saying these buses are unsafe,” Purdy said. “That’s not true. Unsafe is perfectly the wrong word because you’re going to have 100,000 parents screaming because they’re going to think their kids are riding in bad vehicles.”

Purdy said three children have been killed in school-bus accidents in the last six years.

Katz unsuccessfully introduced similar school-bus safety legislation in the previous session of the Legislature. In the past, Gov. Deukmejian has supported the notion of funneling PVEA funds to buy safer school buses, but he has not taken a recent stand on the issue or Katz’s bill, said Kevin Brett, the governor’s deputy press secretary.