CONTRACT WITH TRANSIT AUTHORITY, COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, OR JUVENILE BOARD

(a) A board of county school trustees or school district board of trustees may contract with a mass transit authority, commercial transportation company, or juvenile board for all or any part of a district's public school transportation if the authority, company, or board: (1) requires its school bus drivers to have the qualifications required by and to be certified in accordance with standards established by the Department of Public Safety; and (2) uses only those school buses or mass transit authority buses in transporting 15 or more public school students that meet or exceed safety standards for school buses established under Section 34.002. (b) This section does not prohibit the county or school district board from supplementing the state transportation cost allotment with local funds necessary to provide complete transportation services. (c) A mass transit authority contracting under this section for daily transportation of pre-primary, primary, or secondary students to or from school shall conduct, in a manner and on a schedule approved by the county or district school board, the following education programs: (1) a program to inform the public that public school students will be riding on the authority's or company's buses; (2) a program to educate the drivers of the buses to be used under the contract of the special needs and problems of public school students riding on the buses; and (3) a program to educate public school students on bus riding safety and any special considerations arising from the use of the authority's or company's buses.