County transfers crossing guards to school districts

The Commissioners Court voted unanimously June 30 to have Del Valle, Lake Travis, Leander, Manor, and Round Rock ISDs assume the responsibilities of the county’s school crossing guard program beginning in the 2020-21 school year. The county currently provides supplementary funding for school crossing guard programs in these districts if their students must cross a county roadway, according to Cynthia McDonald, the county executive with the Transportation and Natural Resources Department. Going forward, the county will continue to provide funding but through an interlocal agreement, and will use Economically Disadvantaged Students statistics from the Texas Education Agency as the basis for allocating dollars. In the allocation mechanism that the county will follow, Del Valle will proportionally receive the most funding from the $1.50 motor vehicle Child Safety Fee collected by the Travis County Tax Office and portioned out between the county and 16 other jurisdictions. Manor, Round Rock, Leander and Lake Travis ISDs will receive the next largest allocations in that order. McDonald also noted that county crossing guards have the option to transition into a position with one of the school districts. There are 36 temporary guards and one Risk Safety Specialist on the county payroll for this program.