The last two weeks of August put more children on Texas roads at once than any other time of year, on foot, on bikes, at bus stops, and in car lines that did not exist in July. The safety advice that circulates every autumn is worth following. What almost nobody explains is the legal position underneath it, which is unusual in Texas and works against families in a way that surprises them months later. Two rules decide most school injury claims in this state, and both of them are about who you are allowed to sue and how quickly you have to say so.
The Rule That Decides Most School Injury Claims
Texas school districts are governmental units, and the Tort Claims Act is normally the route through which a governmental unit can be sued. Section 101.051 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code shuts that route almost entirely: except as to motor vehicles, the chapter does not apply to a school district or to a junior college district. Read that carefully, because the consequence is stark. A child injured by a defective stair rail, an unsupervised fight, or a hazard nobody fixed is generally outside the Act, while a child injured in a collision involving a district vehicle is inside it. The presence or absence of a motor vehicle is frequently the whole case. Private schools are not governmental units and are not covered by this exclusion, so an identical incident at a private campus is analysed under ordinary negligence. So are claims against other drivers, contractors, and third parties, whatever the setting.
And the Deadline That Ends Them
Where a governmental unit may be liable, Section 101.101 entitles it to receive notice of the claim not later than six months after the day the incident occurred. The notice must reasonably describe the damage or injury claimed, the time and place of the incident, and the incident. A city charter or ordinance may lawfully require a shorter period, so six months is the ceiling rather than a guarantee. There is a saving provision where the governmental unit has actual notice that death occurred, that the claimant received some injury, or that property was damaged, but relying on it is a gamble. Families routinely assume they have the ordinary two years to think about it, and lose the claim without ever knowing there was a separate clock.
Risk One: The Bus Stop, and the Stop Arm Nobody Respects
The most dangerous part of a bus journey is outside the bus. Section 545.066 requires an operator approaching from either direction a school bus stopped to receive or discharge a student to stop before reaching it when the bus is operating a visual signal, and prohibits proceeding until the bus resumes motion, the driver signals them on, or the signal is no longer actuated. The penalties are not trivial:
- First offence, a fine of 500 to 1,250 dollars
- Second or subsequent offence within five years, 1,000 to 2,000 dollars and possible licence suspension for up to six months
- Causing serious bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanour
- A prior conviction for the serious injury offence, a state jail felony
There is a genuine exception that drivers misapply constantly. An operator on a highway with separate roadways need not stop for a bus on a different roadway. A painted stripe down the middle does not make a road divided. Separate roadways means physically separated, and on an ordinary undivided road both directions must stop.
Risk Two: The School Zone
School zones concentrate reduced speed limits, crossing guards, double-parked cars, and children who step out from between vehicles into the same few hundred metres, twice a day. Two things make this worse than the numbers suggest. Drivers treat the posted reduction as advisory during the minutes either side of the marked hours, and phone use in a school zone remains widespread despite the statewide prohibition on electronic messaging while driving. When a child is struck here the claim is usually against the driver personally rather than any public body, which means ordinary negligence rules apply and the analysis turns on speed, attention, and sight lines rather than on immunity. Where fault is shared,
Texas comparative fault reduces recovery by the child's percentage, though juries assign very little responsibility to young children.
Risk Three: Walking and Cycling to School
Many Texas neighbourhoods route children to school along roads with no pavement at all. The law has a specific answer about where they should walk, and most families get it backwards: Section 552.006(b) requires walking on the left side facing oncoming traffic where no sidewalk is provided, unless that side is obstructed or unsafe. Section 552.008 separately requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, to sound the horn when necessary, and to exercise proper precaution on observing a child on a roadway. That last clause is written for exactly this season. We cover the walking rules in full in
our article on Texas pedestrian law where there is no sidewalk.
Risk Four: On Campus Itself
Playground equipment, wet corridors, sports injuries, and inadequate supervision are the incidents parents most expect to be actionable, and against a Texas public school district they are usually the hardest. No motor vehicle is involved, so Section 101.051 keeps the claim outside the Tort Claims Act. That does not always leave a family without a remedy. A private school is not a governmental unit. A third party contractor who installed or maintained equipment negligently is not either. Nor is the manufacturer of a defective product. Identifying whether a non-governmental defendant exists is usually the decisive early question, and it is easier to answer while the equipment, the maintenance records, and the incident report still exist.
What Parents Should Actually Do in the First Week
Because the deadlines are short and the identity of the correct defendant is often not obvious, the first week does more work than the following six months.
- Get medical attention the same day, even where the child seems fine, since head injuries in particular present late
- Photograph the location, the equipment, the crossing, or the vehicle positions before anything is repaired or repainted
- Request the incident report the school prepared, in writing, and keep the request
- Write down every adult who saw it, including other parents and crossing guards
- Establish immediately whether any motor vehicle was involved, because that fact may decide whether a claim against the district exists
- Treat the six month notice period as the real deadline rather than the two year limitations period
Can You Sue a School District in Texas for Injuring a Child?
Only in narrow circumstances. Section 101.051 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code states that except as to motor vehicles, the Tort Claims Act does not apply to a school district or a junior college district. That means the usual route to suing a governmental unit is closed to school districts for almost everything, and open only where a motor vehicle was involved. Claims against private schools, contractors, and other drivers are governed by ordinary negligence rules instead.
How Long Do You Have to Notify a Texas School District of a Claim?
Six months, and often less. Section 101.101 entitles a governmental unit to receive notice of a claim not later than six months after the day the incident occurred, and the notice must reasonably describe the damage or injury claimed, the time and place of the incident, and the incident itself. A city charter may lawfully require a shorter period. This deadline is separate from and much earlier than the two year limitations period for filing suit.
When Must Texas Drivers Stop for a School Bus?
Whenever it is displaying its visual signal to receive or discharge a student, approaching from either direction. Under Section 545.066 you may not proceed until the bus resumes motion, the bus driver signals you to proceed, or the visual signal is no longer actuated. A first offence carries a fine of 500 to 1,250 dollars, a second within five years carries 1,000 to 2,000 dollars and possible licence suspension for up to six months, and causing serious bodily injury is a Class A misdemeanour.
Do You Have to Stop for a School Bus on the Other Side of a Divided Road in Texas?
No. Section 545.066 excepts an operator on a highway with separate roadways who is travelling on a different roadway from the bus. It also excepts a controlled-access highway where the bus is stopped in a loading zone that is part of or adjacent to the highway and pedestrians are not permitted to cross the roadway. A painted centre line or a turn lane does not make a road divided for this purpose.
What Should You Do First if Your Child Is Hurt at or Near School in Texas?
Get medical attention and then establish the record while it still exists. Photograph the location and conditions the same week, obtain the incident report the school prepared, identify every adult who witnessed it, and note whether any vehicle was involved, because that single fact often determines whether a claim against the district exists at all. If a governmental unit may be responsible, the six month notice clock has already started.
Find Out Which Clock You Are On
The most damaging assumption after a school injury is that there is plenty of time. Against a governmental unit there is often six months or less, and against nobody at all if the only candidate is a district protected by Section 101.051. Working out which of those situations you are in is a short conversation and it is worth having early. Edgett Hawk handles child injury claims across North Texas, and there is
no attorney fee unless we recover for you. Call 972.559.0000.
