A bill aimed at increasing school safety by allowing school districts to hire retired law officers and military veterans as armed guardians passed the Kentucky Senate on Tuesday.
The move marks the first time Kentucky has strengthened school safety since the tragic 2018 mass shooting in which another student opened fire at Marshall County High School in western Kentucky, killing two students and injuring more than a dozen others. This is the latest attempt by Congress.
The bill passed the Republican-led Senate on a 28-10 vote and will be sent to the House. The proposal, sponsored by Republican Sen. Max Wise, has been designated as Senate Bill 2, reflecting its priorities in the Senate.
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The Senate passed another bill that would allow Kentucky voters to choose who serves on the state Board of Education. The measure would strip the governor of the power to elect most board members.
The school safety bill would allow local boards of education to hire and place guardians in schools. Their employment will be at the discretion of local committees. School districts may hire as many guardians as the administrator deems necessary. If the bill becomes law, the parent program would begin in the 2025-26 school year.
Parents can fill gaps in schools lacking armed school resource officers, usually members of local law enforcement, or work with SROs to carry out their duties. Wise said hundreds of school campuses do not have SROs due to a lack of funding or available officers.
Kentucky State Senator Max Wise attends the opening of a special session of the Kentucky General Assembly on September 7, 2021 in Frankfort, Kentucky. Wise is the sponsor of a bill aimed at increasing school safety by allowing school districts to employ armed parents. . This bill was passed by the Kentucky Senate on March 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)
“However, the first and foremost recruiting goal for Kentucky public schools is school resource officers,” Wise said during the Senate debate. “However, parents are a well-considered approach and may fit the district’s needs.”
Wise said the bill in no way watered down or removed previous steps the Legislature took to strengthen school safety in the wake of the Marshall County shooting.
Democratic Sen. Reginald Thomas said the bill does not address the core problems that lead to gun violence.
“Instead of saying what to do about the gun problem that we have in this state and in America, our answer is, instead of putting guns in schools, let’s put more guns in schools,” he said. said.
Those eligible to serve as guardians include honorably discharged military veterans, retired state troopers, retired law enforcement officers, and former federal employees.
Their preparation includes first-level training for school resource officers, as well as training in firearms proficiency and how to respond to active shooter situations. Concealed weapons would be allowed on school grounds.
Opponents of the bill also expressed concerns about the level of training for parents.
In supporting the bill, Republican Sen. Stephen West said time is of the essence in a gunfight situation.
“Ultimately, I thought, do I want to have a trained, armed veteran ready to respond to the scene, or do I want to have a highly trained SRO or law enforcement officer five minutes away?” “It was something like that,” he said. “That’s the choice we have.”
Republican Sen. Whitney Westerfield said the focus should be on expanding the number of SROs.
“It’s unfortunate that school districts are doing this instead of allocating funds to hire the SROs they need,” he said. I would really like you to do that.
Wise expressed hope that additional funding for school resource officers will be included in the state budget plan for the next two years, which lawmakers will finalize later in the legislative session.
The bill also includes the area of mental health. It will increase suicide prevention awareness and training among teachers and students, and expand the scope of student support. It will foster a team approach among school psychologists, social workers, school resource officers, and mental health providers.
In other action Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill that would change the way members of the State Board of Education are selected. Instead of being appointed by the governor with Senate approval, board members would be elected by voters.
The bill passed the Senate on a 24-14 vote and now moves on to the House. The bill would elect two state education commissioners from each of the state’s seven supreme court districts.
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“Senate Bill 8 gives voters important choices about who makes broad policy decisions about the education of our children and all of Kentucky’s youth,” said Republican Sen. Mike Wilson, the bill’s lead sponsor. It gives us the opportunity to do that.”
Democratic Sen. Cathy Chambers Armstrong opposed the measure, saying there was no evidence that switching to partisan elections would improve educational outcomes for students.
“I believe there is no place for partisan politics in Kentucky classrooms,” she said.
