School Safety Laws
Written and edited by Serena Ray
Materials to be utilized by Texas Gun Sense
August 13th , 2024
Materials to be utilized by Texas Gun Sense
August 13th , 2024
Intro:
In at least 42 states, school safety and security drills are required to be conducted by state regulation. American K-12 schools are seen as zones that are supposed to be safe for children to receive intellectual enrichment, not places of violence. Let’s take a look at the background behind Texas school safety laws, and what this can mean for your public school
National Background:
Let’s evaluate some of the national statistics that have led to school safety laws being enacted across various states. According to recent polls, US parents have experienced the highest level of concern for the safety of their children in the past two decades. 44% of parents experience fear for their children's safety in a classroom setting. Similarly, 40% of teachers feel less safe in their profession than they used to. Between 2018 and 2023, more than 1,200 school shootings occurred in the United States alone.
Texas Background:
In Texas specifically, from 1970 to today, there have been 135 school shootings, the second most in the country. Texas first signed school safety laws in 2019 under Greg Abbot in the wake of the tragic Sante Fe Shooting which claimed the lives of 10. Named Senate Bill 11, this legislation aimed to instruct school districts to enact emergency procedures, and require specialized training for officers, among other training measures. A separate bill, Abbot additionally signed a separate bill specifically aimed at providing mental and behavioral health resources to students. Alongside signing these bills, Abbot also signed House Bill 1387, effectively abolishing the previously existing cap on how many trained school staff can carry firearms on public campuses. These trained school staff are known as “school marshalls,” which are known as personnel whose identities are concealed for the purpose of acting as armed enforcement.
Main points of Senate Bill 11:
- This bill requires public schools to conduct behavioral threat assessments and collect relevant data on its efficacy.
- Each district must establish a threat assessment and a safe & supportive school team
- Ensures district employees (including substitutes) receive adequate emergency management training
New Texas Legislation (2023)
In 2023, new legislation was enacted almost a year after the disastrous Uvalde Shooting that shook Texas. Called House Bill 3, this new legislation grants TEA increased authority to enact stricter safety plans should an incident of a school shooting occur, seeking to allow unlicensed chaplains to take place in schools as “mental health professionals.” This bill also created a new safety and security department under TEA led by Abbots newly appointed chief of safety and security. The largest provision enacted under this bill was the direction for school districts to have at least one armed security officer per campus. Also a part of this bill, the DPS and Texas School Safety Center are required to provide safe storage information to each school district or school for distribution to parents or guardians of a student. This legislation was helped passed by many gun violence prevention groups such as Texas Gun Sense
What is the safe storage provision in HB3?
The safe storage provision in HB3 was pushed by gun sense groups in order to add a measure requiring school districts to educate parents about the importance of safe storage to prevent incidents of violence.
What does this mean for the interaction of schools and TEA?
Under this law, TEA is required to assess the safety of school campuses every 4 years, and school districts are required to provide TEA with maps of every school. The legislation also raised the amount of funding granted to schools for safety and security purposes.
Who is allowed to carry guns in schools?
Regarding firearm usage within schools, HB3 clarifies past gun-carrying legislation, stating that individuals permitted to carry firearms within schools cannot carry out enforcement duties unless in case of an emergency.
What are the mental health chaplains?
Under HB3, every school staff member interacting with students will be required to take mental health training to help identify students in need of mental health aid. By SB 763, schools are given the option to use allocated school safety funds to pay for unlicensed chaplains to work in mental health roles, with policies for this role being determined by specific school boards. These mental health chaplains can be a mental health role in schools by volunteer basis.
Overall overview:
Though some areas of improvement have been made in recent legislation to protect schools, many advocates criticize the efficacy of these laws from a mental health and gun sense perspective. Specifically post Uvalde Shooting, many pushed for a “raise the age bill”, of which did not happen. Instead, school safety laws were enacted that to some only bring more turmoil to an already calamitous situation.
Sources:
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/14/texas-school-safety/
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/06/06/texas-santa-fe-mass-shooting-mental-health-school-safety/
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/21/texas-senate-marshal-program-school-safety-hb-1387/
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/special-reports/uvalde-school-shooting/school-shootings-in-texas/287-2bb88ab7-b717-4307-9981-6e784bdbf15d
https://www.findlaw.com/state/texas-law/texas-education-laws.html
