The American school bus has looked about the same for 80 years. However, most of these buses lack air conditioning, which can lead to heat-related issues for students. In August 2024, a district north of Austin started the school year in a heat spike with the outside air at 109 degrees and 16 of its 100 buses running with broken air conditioning.

Heat-Related Risks

Children are more susceptible to heat-related issues due to their size and how their bodies regulate temperature. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that kids heat up faster than adults and are slower to shed that heat. A first-grader could last only minutes in a 110-degree vehicle.

A school bus can get 20 degrees hotter than the air outside, which adds up quickly on a hot day. For example, Alabama’s education department found that fewer than half of the state’s school buses have air conditioning. A transportation specialist there said a bus “can get 20 degrees hotter than the air outside.”

Cost and Funding

Adding air conditioning to a bus costs around $10,000 to $14,000 per unit. Multiply that by a fleet of a few hundred buses, and the cost becomes significant. When Colorado lawmakers tried to make cooling a requirement, the cost was a major factor in the decision. The bill was killed on a 10-0 vote.

Some places have moved faster in adding air conditioning to school buses when the law forced their hand. New York City, after a change to its local law, is required to put every student with a disability on an air-conditioned bus by 2035.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.