Florida legislators have passed HB 85, altering the “hazardous conditions” standards for school buses following numerous accidents on 9B and St. Johns Parkway.
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — With new changes in place, some Liberty Pines Academy students will have the option to skip riding their bikes as they will gain an alternative transportation method to school next year.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to deem the sidewalk along 9B as hazardous, requiring a bus for the St. Johns Forest neighborhood.
“Introducing this bill was my top priority,” stated State Rep. Kim Kendall, the bill’s primary sponsor. “When the opportunity to draft bills became available, this was the first one I submitted.”
Kendall wanted to make sure she got her hazardous walking conditions bill filed as soon as she could, so some Liberty Pines Academy families wouldn’t have to go one more year without a school bus.
“We never envisioned when the sidewalk finished and kicked in a two-mile walk path, it would force young kids to have to be on the sidewalk with all these cars flipping over on the sidewalks in their paths,” said Kendall.
In the past two and a half years, First Coast News covered cars crashing into the pedestrian bridge, a flipped semi-truck on 9B and a crash in the median of St. Johns Parkway.
Kendall took images of overturned cars on and near the sidewalk to lawmakers to prove her point.
“No guard rails, there’s no crossing guards,” said Kendall. “Someone could just grab a child and instantly be up on the interstate.”
State law only requires school districts to provide a bus to homes two miles or more from a school, meaning half of St. Johns Forest doesn’t get one.
There are exceptions for hazardous road conditions, but until Kendall’s bill, the sidewalk along St. Johns Parkway didn’t meet those requirements.
Her bill adds limited access facilities, like 9B, to the list – meaning that starting in the fall, St. Johns County schools will be required to provide a bus to the whole neighborhood.
New St. Johns County Schools Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen says he’s already read through the new law to determine the impact it’ll have on the district.
“Every year we go through that process to see what areas need busing that didn’t before, and we will be providing a bus for that particular area,” said Asplen.
Kendall says she’s not aware of any other districts in Northeast Florida that will be impacted by her new law, which takes effect July 1.
“I’m just one person,” said Kendall. “I don’t do this without the help of so many parents that kept this alive.”
St. Johns County schools will meet this week, and the only item on the agenda is to iron out their transportation updates ahead of next year.
If you want to be there for that, it’s Tuesday at 9 a.m. at 40 Orange St. in St. Augustine.
