Ohio is making a major investment in student transportation safety with a new round of funding to upgrade school bus fleets across the state.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Director Stephen D. Dackin announced, on January 22, 2026, the award of $10 million in Ohio School Bus Safety Grants to 371 schools, districts, and county boards of developmental disabilities statewide.

According to an Ohio Department of Education & Workforce release, the grants will help ensure safer travel for Ohio students through safety upgrades to existing buses and the addition of advanced safety features on new buses.

“Whether students are in the classroom or on the school bus, we owe it to parents and families to do everything we can to keep them safe,” said Governor DeWine. “We’re raising the bar for student safety on Ohio’s buses, and these grant awards demonstrate our dedication to making school transportation safer.”

The grant program was developed following recommendations from the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group, which Governor DeWine convened to review all aspects of student transportation.

Funding Initiative Delivers Safety Enhancements

In its report issued in January 2024, Governor DeWine’s Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group concluded that while school buses remain the safest mode of transportation for students traveling to and from school, opportunities existed to make school buses “even safer than they are today.”

To accomplish this goal, the Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group recommended that the state provide districts with funding to offset the costs of upgrading school bus fleets with safety equipment that meets specific needs.

The Ohio School Bus Safety Grant Program provides competitive grants to eligible applicants for the repair, replacement, or addition of authorized school bus safety features to school buses in active service or for safety enhancements to the purchase of a new school bus. All schools and districts that applied for funding for eligible safety features received an award.

According to Peak of Ohio, multiple districts in Logan and Champaign counties received funding from the program.

Logan County

• Bellefontaine City School District – $29,418
• Indian Lake Local School District – $16,612

Champaign County

• Graham Local School District – $11,735
• Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District – $19,455
• Triad Local School District – $12,774
• Urbana City School District – $23,484
• West Liberty-Salem Local School District – $12,039

Eligible applicants include city, local, exempted village, and joint vocational school districts, as well as community schools, chartered nonpublic schools, STEM schools, educational service centers, and county boards of developmental disabilities.