Word out of Washington, D.C., is that a press release announcing the start of a $5-million, national, public awareness campaign touting the environmental, safety and economic benefits of school buses was in the works to coincide with back-to-school operations kicking off, or about to, nationwide. According to the American School Bus Council, one large 54-passenger school bus can eliminate the need for as many as 36 cars or trucks on the nation's roads that parents, students or other drive to and from school each day, with the assumption that these additional motorists ferry about 1.5 students in each vehicle per trip.

An ASBC survey last year found that nine of 10 parents agreed that school buses are important factors in getting kids to and from school and making classroom achievement possible. Meanwhile, seven of 10 parents said more students would be absent from school if school buses weren't available.

Also on the radar, expected to be made available by the end of this year, is NHTSA's updated school bus driver in-service training series for its Web site as well as a CD that contains the curriculum. But first, the industry can expect to see new child pedestrian safety curriculum for Kindergartners through fifth graders that includes a lesson dedicated to safe school bus loading and unloading practices, on-board student behavior and school bus "danger zone" awareness. This manual is expected to take to the next level the Federal Highway Administration's "National Strategies for Advancing Child Pedestrian Safety," which was published nine years ago in October and helped set the wheels in motion for the creation of the Safe Routes to School Program that launched in 2005.

The feds are also planning the logistics necessary for shooting a new 20-minute video on proper installation and securement of forward- and rear-facing child passenger safety seats, safety vests and add-ons as well as the correct placement of younger students in these devices.The video will be designed as a companion piece to the NHTSA-approved, eight-hour "Child Passenger Safety Restraints on School Buses" seminar hands-on training that applies to the over all 32-hour NHTSA Child Passenger Safety Technician certification program.

And lest we forget, distracted driving remains a hot topic. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will host the 2010 Distracted Driving Summit next month in Washington, D.C. NHTSA will also, again, be participating, and NASDPTS is expected to also send representatives.

While ASBC continues to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation on a national public awareness campaign on school buses and with the U.S. Department of Education on student bullying prevention, in October the industry will also be sending several representatives to Washington, D.C., to obtain more information on the clean diesel program, especially as Congress is expected to take up the DERA legislative reauthorization later this year. Federal unding of the program, originated in 2005, expires at the end of December.

The inaugural Clean Diesel 10 Conference sponsored by the EPA is scheduled for Oct. 19 and 20 and was organized to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of reduced emissions made possible by the National Clean Diesel Campaign, which has since encompassed the EPA's Clean School Bus USA program, and DERA. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is expected to welcome the participants.

The National School Transportation Association has been involved with the EPA and congressional members for the past several years to lobby for more school bus money for retrofits and new vehicle purchases, especially for contractor members that federal law prohibits from applying for grant money directly from Clean School Bus, DERA and last year's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Only public school districts, public entities and non-profit organizations can apply for these funds, but NSTA won a victory last year by becoming a go-between for private company members.

NSTA is one of four sponsoring organization for the conference as a "Clean Air Leader" joining Caterpillar, Donaldson Filtration Solutions and Johnson Matthey. The American School Bus Council also will have a seat at the table.

Yet, clean diesel is not the only funding source available to school bus operators. Last week, NAPT announced a new program to use federal stimulus funds to increase school district conversions from diesel school buses to new CNG school buses.

School security expert Ken Trump blogs that a two-day "bullying summit" held this week in Washington, D.C., is resulting in a new federal position that will really hold school districts' feet to the fire when it comes to how they report and respond to the national epidemic plaguing the nation's students. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called bullying a "gateway to hate" that he wants to close by using federal civil rights laws to investigate specific harassment or bullying incidents.

This is big news for all educators, and this most certainly includes school bus drivers and other transportation personnel. Earlier this summer, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug Free Schools Kevin Jennings appeared in an NAPT webinar that discussed student bullying on board the school bus and how the industry must go about reporting any and all cases. In fact, Jennings went so far as linking the school bus to the classroom.

Just this week, the American School Bus Council during it's annual summit in Chicago pointed to Jennings as one of the first real advocates for school busing that the industry has known in the Department of Education. So it's no leap to conclude that school bus operators should sit up and take notice at the latest federal stance.

Meanwhile, during the federal bullying summit, Jennings also introduced Russlyn Ali, the assistant secretary for the Office of Civil Rights, as the "new Sheriff in town" when it comes to battling this ongoing problem. Ali said that the Office of Civil Rights, which she admitted had “not been as active as it should have been” in taking the bullying issue head on is embarking on changing its role. Going forward, OCR will be "vigorously” enforcing civil rights laws and will be “proactively investigating school districts” when any and all claims surface. This means the feds are finely tuned on acquiring better data to "paint a better portrait and more accurate portrait" of harassment.

Specifically, Trump opines that schools should expect the Obama Administration to push for mandatory data collection while possibly seeking new federal anti-bullying laws "with a civil rights theme." This would all lead to more investigations of civil rights complaints against schools and, here's the catcher, possible federal school safety funding "skewed" toward bullying. Trump also voices some concerns, which I also suggest you read.

Still, with momentum coming out of this week's ASBC Summit and key relationships, or at least connections, made over the past several months in D.C. between the school bus industry and key administration people like Jennings, there is much hope that school buses are better poised to piggy-back on federal programs to secure some additional funding by successfully making the case that the school bus is an extension of the classroom. And in as much, school bus operations, at least on some level, not only deserve but desperately need more federal attention when trying to improve the education as well as safety of school children everywhere.

Several times over the years, legislators, parents and other child safety advocacy groups have called for the occupant restraints to be equipped in the state’s fleet of 12,276 vehicles that transport 527,169 kids to and from school each day. But all attempts have so far failed.

Of course, as one newspaper pointed out today, school districts all across Missouri (and the nation) can choose to have either two-point lap belts or three-point lap/shoulder belts in school buses even if their states do not yet have a law requiring them. Beginning next fall, NHTSA will require smaller Type A school buses to have the lap/shoulder variety while enforcing guidelines for vehicle manufacturers, seat restraint manufacturers and school bus operators to follow when voluntarily installing the three-point belts. The thinking is that larger school buses afford increased protection during crashes than what smaller buses can offer. It comes down to crash dynamics.

A recent "First Take" column I wrote for our July magazine issue ruffled some feathers, especially those in school bus seat manufacturing circles, when I asked the rhetorical question, “What is the cost of saving one life?” My intent was to further discussion on current events in Connecticut and Ohio as those states grapple with the issue after their own high-profile crashes over the past year. In retrospect, I readily admit that there were a few bases I failed to touch.

For example, I didn’t adequately frame the issue with the strong contention that the seating capacity issue has been resolved via flex-seat options available on today’s market. Also, while yet unproven, there is much anecdotal evidence from many school districts that have voluntarily installed three-point seat belts that the occupant restraints also seem to improve onboard student behavior. Such is the case in Beamont (Texas) ISD, which made the decision to equip its school buses with the lap/shoulders after an activity bus (see motorcoach) crash killed two members of a high school softball team several years ago.

The Missouri crash last week also occurred during an activity trip but on a yellow school bus. While the National Transportation Safety Board is assisting the Missouri Highway Patrol with the crash investigation, early indicators are that distracted driving and possible road construction zones are the main issues being looked at and not school bus seat belts, especially since the death of 15-year-old Jessica Brinker was likely one of those that, by nature, couldn’t have been avoided regardless if seat belts were available or not.

But, as of now, only California requires the seat belts similar to those mandated by the feds in passenger vehicles since the mid-1980s. Texas also has a three-point school bus seat belt law, but the state is still trying to determine if it has the money schools it will need to comply with the law, which is supposed to go into effect next month. Then there is Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York, which have required two-point lap belts in school buses for more than 20 years, though students aren’t required to wear them.

With all this said, parents overwhelmingly want the same protection afforded to their children in Mom’s and Dad’s car as on the school bus. It cannot be overlooked that, regardless of the school bus safety record, perception is reality for parents when it comes to their children’s safety, especially when those young lives are entrusted in someone else’s care.

Coming full circle, it all comes down to funding; it’s something surely on the mind of the American School Bus Council this week as it meets in Chicago. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has pledged to use $5 million of existing NHTSA funding to roll out a national public awareness campaign that espouses the safety and environmental benefits of school buses. That’s all well and good, but it remains to be seen if $5 million divvied up between some 480,000 school buses in service throughout all 50 states will accomplish anything when it comes to the challenges of having or not having school bus seat belts.

As one pupil transporter said during a general session on the topic last month at the STN EXPO, one day all school buses will likely be equipped with seat belts, albeit several decades from now. But in the meantime, what can a unified industry do to stay in front of the issue and advocate the absolute safest school bus rides for the nation’s children, keeping in mind that seat belts, or at least the desire of parents for school buses to be equipped with them, are likely here to stay?

The American Association of School Administrators released a statement that the Senate's decision for a cloture vote, that meaning to bring a swift end to any debate, signals that "educational success and economic well-being go hand in hand," said Ed Hatrick, AASA's new president and the superintendent at Loudon (Va.) County Public Schools.

This is potentially encouraging to transportation operations after an AASA survey this past spring found that 38 percent of the 453 superintendent responding said their transportation departments would be implementing route cuts this coming school year. And that, of course, could also impact a lot of jobs, especially as those supers hailed from 45 different states. Consider that those expected routes cuts have increased by 20 percent from the 2009-2010 school year and up 10 percent from 2008-2009.

The Senate Amendment also contains a provision that would close international tax loopholes that currently allow multinational corporations to inappropriately lower their U.S. taxes, which could have an adverse effect on state and local revenue that goes toward funding schools — and transportation operations.

The next stop is a Senate floor vote and, if it passes by a simple majority, on to the House, where there have already been two passages of similar job bills. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already said that she will call representatives back from recess to cast their new votes.

It's interesting to note that a main architect of the amendment is Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the same Sen. Murray who has drawn the ire of private school bus companies after she tried to insert language into the transportation reauthorization bill that would allow King County Metro in Seattle to bypass the charter rule enforced by FTA to eliminate unfair competition by transit agencies that operate with federal funding.

Late last month, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a draft bill providing a total of $76.95 billion in budgetary resources for the U.S. Department of Transportation for fiscal year 2011, according to an legislative update this week from NSTA. Sen. Murray inserted a charter rule exemption that was identical to her previous attempt, just in case the Department of Justice wins an appeal on the current court case. The district court opinion in June ruled the provision unconstitutional and was appealed. The DC Circuit Court is scheduled to hear the case late next month, NSTA advised its members.