SPRINGFIELD — There is a $10 million plan in Columbus designed to keep children in the Miami Valley and across Ohio safer on the roads to and from school.
News Center 7’s John Bedell has been following the plan for months and has the latest on a recent change that will start a new state grant program sooner than planned.
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- School bus safety bill passes Ohio House; Bill aims to protect children
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It all follows up with some of what the state’s School Bus Safety Task Force recommended in its final report. The change has the month approved months earlier than we thought just a few weeks ago.
News Center 7 has been talking to parents and grandparents around the Miami Valley about a new school bus safety plan in Ohio for months.
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Christine Brown of Springfield said, “We should do whatever we can for the safety of our kids.”
Patrick Rogers of Springfield said, I think it’s a great idea to get the things buses need – proper equipment – to protect our kids going back and forth to school.”
The School Bus Safety Act passed the Ohio House two weeks ago. The bill is designed to set aside $10 million from the Ohio Lottery profits to fund a needs-based grant program.
Districts could apply for grants as they see fit and use the money to pay for school bus safety features. Things such as onboard cameras to help catch drivers who illegally pass school buses while they’re loading or unloading children.
“Don’t be irresponsible. Because someone’s child is on that bus,” said Tina Combs, of Dayton.
For now, the $10 million has been fast-tracked as part of the state’s two-year budget, which takes effect next week.
State Rep. Bernie Willis (R), Springfield, said, “I think everyone really just said ‘yeah this just makes sense, get the money in there in the budget now that frees them up to start the grant,’”
Willis is from Clark County and is the bill’s sponsor.
“It’s a lower number that we’d like, but it is the start. It is really to get us at a point where we have a fund where school districts can immediately start getting grants to put things on buses,” Willis said.
The bill would also create stiffer criminal penalties, including higher fines for drivers who pass school buses while they’re loading or unloading children.
Willis told News Center 7 the plan is to add money from those fines into the grant fund. Those parts of the bill will keep working their way through the legislature.
Right now, the bill is in the Ohio Senate after passing the Ohio House.
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