School Transportation

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on how notices of violations will be enforced or what actions follow after issuing these notices.

School Bus Safety Cameras

This bill allows local education agencies to authorize school security personnel to review camera footage from school buses and issue notices of violations for drivers who do not stop when required.

What This Bill Does

• Allows a local education agency (LEA) to authorize school safety personnel to review evidence from cameras installed on the exterior of school buses.
• Clarifies that both law enforcement and school safety personnel can review camera footage concurrently.
• Authorizes school safety personnel to issue notices of violations based on the reviewed footage.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local education agencies (LEAs) that install cameras on school buses
• School security personnel who review camera footage
• Drivers of vehicles that do not stop when approaching a stopped school bus

Terms To Know

local education agency (LEA)

An organization responsible for managing and operating public schools.

school safety personnel

Individuals employed or contracted by an LEA whose duties include student safety or campus security, such as school resource officers.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the consequences for drivers who receive notices of violations.
• It is unclear how the concurrent use of law enforcement and school safety personnel will be coordinated in practice.

Official Summary Text

Present law requires the driver of a motor vehicle, upon meeting or overtaking from either direction a school bus that has stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children, to stop the vehicle before reaching the school bus. Further,
the driver is prohibited from proceeding until the school bus resumes motion, the driver is signaled to proceed by the school bus driver, or the visual signals are no longer actuated. A local education agency (LEA) must purchase, install, operate, and ma
in
tain cameras on the exterior of school buses for the purpose of recording images of motor vehicles that fail to stop upon approaching a school bus. An LEA that installs such cameras must enter into a memorandum of understanding with local law enforcement
that includes the review of evidence from a camera and overall enforcement.

This bill authorizes an LEA to authorize school security personnel to review evidence from a camera on the exterior of a school bus to determine whether a violation of the stopping requirement has occurred. This bill clarifies that the school security p
ersonnel and local law enforcement review processes may be used concurrently. As used in this bill, "school safety personnel" means a school safety officer, school resource officer, or other individual employed or contracted by an LEA whose duties includ
e
student safety or campus security.

ON MARCH 9, 2026, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2356, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, require a local education agency that installs cameras on the exterior of school buses for the purpose of recording images of motor vehicles that fail to stop upon approaching a school bus to either (i) enter i
nto a memorandum of understanding with local law enforcement that includes the review of evidence from a camera and overall enforcement; or (ii) authorize school safety personnel to review evidence from a camera to determine whether a violation has occurr
ed
. Such school safety personnel are authorized to issue notices of violations and citations. As used in this amendment, "school safety personnel" means a school safety officer, a school resource officer, or any other individual employed or contracted by
a local education agency whose duties include student safety or school security.

This amendment authorizes a memorandum of understanding entered into with local law enforcement by a local education agency to require only POST-certified or state-commissioned law enforcement officers to review evidence from a camera to determine whethe
r a violation has occurred. Further, a local education agency may both enter into a memorandum of understanding with local law enforcement and authorize school safety personnel to review evidence from a camera.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL 2356
By Howell

SENATE BILL 2258
By Taylor
SB2258
012205
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section
55-8-151, relative to evidence.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-151(c)(2), is amended by
deleting the subdivision and substituting instead the following:
(A) An LEA that installs cameras on the exterior of school buses in accordance
with subdivision (c)(1) shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with local law
enforcement that includes, but is not limited to, the review of evidence from a camera
and overall enforcement. Unless otherwise authorized by law, only POST-certified or
state-commissioned law enforcement officers, including school resource officers, as
defined in § 49-6-4202, are authorized to review evidence from a camera to determine
whether a violation of subdivision (a)(1) has occurred.
(B) In addition to, and not in limitation of, the memorandum of understanding
required in subdivision (c)(2)(A), an LEA may authorize school security personnel to
review evidence from a camera to determine whether a violation of subdivision (a)(1)
has occurred. The use of school safety personnel under this subdivision (c)(2)(B) does
not prohibit or restrict an LEA from entering into or maintaining a memorandum of
understanding with a law enforcement agency under subdivision (c)(2)(A), and both
review processes may be used concurrently. For purposes of this subdivision (c)(2)(B),
"school safety personnel" means a school safety officer, school resource officer, or other
individual employed or contracted by an LEA whose duties include student safety or
campus security.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.