Calling all Ohio school bus fleet operators! A new state grant is now available to enhance bus safety.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce have just launched the Ohio School Bus Safety Grant Program to provide more safety equipment in active and new school buses to prevent fatalities and injuries of Ohio children.

The grant, included in the recent biennial Ohio Budget HB 96, provides $10 million 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.

In a 2024 report, Governor DeWine’s Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group concluded that while school buses remain the safest mode of transportation, opportunities existed to make school buses even safer than they are today. 

Many seat belt advocates are hoping three- or five-point belts become more widely adopted to prevent fatalities. In Illinois, Public Act 104-0075 recently mandated seat belts in school buses and joined nine other states requiring seat belts in school buses.

Applications opened Oct. 15 and close Nov. 14, 2025, at 5 p.m. 

For more information, visit this page online or see the request for application here.