AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News) – The Texas Senate is discussing the future of an agency that provides bus service to more than half of the local school districts in Dallas County.
Republican Senator Don Huffines filed the bill to get rid of Dallas County Schools, claiming the agency is unreliable.
State Representative Rafael Anchia backed up that claim while speaking to the Education Committee.
“In the course of two years, the agency’s buses were subject to 4,000 complaints called in by other drivers who alleged reckless driving and speeding. In the course of one year, Dallas County Schools crashes increased by 103 percent,” he said.
Anchia said the agency sold four properties it owned and then leased them back.
“They received $25 million in cash for the lots but the deal came with a significant long-term cost to Dallas taxpayers because we are now obligated to make more than $47 million in lease payments over the next 20 years,” he said.
Anchia said the agency, which has drivers who have racked up almost 500 traffic tickets in the past few years, is receiving a lot of backlash.
“In recent months, at least seven ISD’s served by Dallas County Schools have either abandoned Dallas County Schools as a services provider, publicly complained about the entity or openly supported the passage of a bill to abolish Dallas County Schools,” he said.
The agency said it is under new leadership and hopes legislators will give them a chance to continue to serve the children of the local school districts.
The Senate has already approved a bill that would allow Dallas county voters to determine in November whether the agency should be allowed to continue.
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