Gatesville ISD expands summer meals, reviews bus-seat-belt rule
Gatesville ISD’s summer meals begin June 1, while 23 buses need seat-belt fixes and a $26 million bond goes to voters with no tax-rate increase.
Gatesville families will see three school decisions shape their summer and fall: free meals start June 1, the district is racing to comply with a new bus-seat-belt law, and a $26 million bond proposal went to voters May 2 with no planned tax-rate increase.
The biggest immediate service is the summer feeding program, which is entering its 16th year after beginning in June 2011. Gatesville ISD scheduled the 2026 program to run from June 1 through July 30, with meals planned for the Gatesville Boys & Girls Club, Trinity Baptist Church, the city pool, summer school campuses, Gatesville High School athletic camps and, at times, the WIC office and other programs. District leaders said the effort has grown into a steady community partnership, not a one-time outreach campaign, and it remains part of the district’s broader nutrition and community support work.
Transportation was the other major topic. Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Yancey Sanderson told the board the district identified 23 buses that do not comply with the new state requirement for three-point seat belts on every school bus passenger and the driver. Eighteen of those buses have no seat belts at all, a replacement cost estimated at about $1.2 million. Five more buses have some form of seat belts, and bringing those up to the new standard would cost about $171,000.
Texas Education Agency guidance says districts that cannot finance buses with three-point seat belts must report the number of buses without belts, with two-point belts and with three-point belts, along with retrofit estimates, during a reporting window that opened Nov. 11, 2025, and runs through May 29, 2026. Gatesville ISD said it plans to submit its numbers and look for federal help to cover the gap while trying to avoid putting students at risk. The district also received a $106,721 Texas Emissions Reduction Plan grant on March 25 and will pair it with $100,000 already budgeted to buy two 72-passenger Thomas buses at $154,000 each. Those buses will replace two noncompliant units in the current rotation.
The board also reviewed the bond package that had been called for May 2. The $26 million proposal was built around safety, aging facilities and extracurricular space, with no projected increase to the current tax rate of $0.8969 per $100 of valuation. Planning materials say the package grew out of months of assessments, design committee meetings, stakeholder focus groups, surveys and open feedback, and it centers on Gatesville Junior High, which opened in 1966, plus a new boys’ field house and athletics and fine arts improvements.
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