Texas OKs bill for armed guards in all schools.

Texas Lawmakers Pass Comprehensive School Safety Bill

After the tragic shooting at Uvalde last year, Texas lawmakers have taken action to ensure the safety of students in schools. On Sunday, they passed a comprehensive school safety bill that includes the posting of armed security officers at every Texas school and mental health training for certain district personnel. The bill also increases the state’s authority to compel school districts to develop active-shooter strategies.

“It’s time to act,” said Republican Representative Ken King, before the vote was taken. “We need to prevent the next Uvalde.”

The Senate had removed the requirement for an armed person to be present on every school campus earlier in the session, but the requirement was reenacted during the bargaining process. According to the statute, the required armed individual may also be a peace officer, school resource officer, school marshal, or an employee of the school district.

Opponents of the bill, who maintained throughout the legislative session that fewer weapons, not more, are the answer to mass shootings, were especially alarmed by the clause. Nevertheless, the House still passed the bill by a surprisingly wide margin of 93–49.

What the Bill Entails

• Posting of armed security officers at every Texas school
• Mental health training for certain district personnel
• Increased state authority to compel school districts to develop active-shooter strategies
• Assessment of advantageous methods of securing campuses every five years by the Texas School Safety Center
• Establishment of regional safety teams that would conduct audits on intruder detections at least once every year
• Creation of a safety and security department by the Texas Education Agency with the power to order school districts to plan and adhere to effective active-shooter measures
• Mandate for school staff who frequently engage with children to complete an “evidence-based mental health first-aid training program”
• Semi-annual meetings for sheriffs to talk about school safety and law enforcement’s response to “violent incidents” in counties with fewer than 350,000 residents
• Each district would be obliged to provide the Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies with a tour and map of each campus to reduce confusion while responding to an emergency

To further secure Texas schools, the state would give each school district $15,000 per campus and $10 per student, a figure that many school officials argue is not enough. Additionally, lawmakers have given the TEA around $1.1 billion to administer grants for school safety to the more than 1,000 school districts in the state.

San Antonio Democrat Senator Rolando Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, said on Sunday that he had voted against the bill over funding concerns. 

“It is sick and twisted that we have the largest budget surplus in Texas history and we aren’t doing a damn thing to keep our kids safe,” he said. “We aren’t doing anything to prevent another Uvalde.”

Despite opposition, Republican Representative Carrie Isaac called the bill “a huge win for the safety of our children.”

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