RIBUNE New legislation proposed in the Texas Senate would create a safety and security department in the Texas Education Agency and give the education commissioner direct power to compel school districts to establish safety protocols for active-shooter situations.
The new department would oversee mandated school safety measures, like safety plans. The legislation would make it easier for the education agency to impose steep consequences on school districts that don’t comply.
School districts are currently required to send their school safety plans, which must include active-shooter strategies, to the Texas School Safety Center — a think tank at the Texas State University.
But an audit released in 2020 found that out of Texas’ 1,022 school districts, just 200 districts had active-shooter policies as part of their submitted plans.
The bill would give the education department direct oversight and allow education Commissioner Mike Morath to take over a school district and its board if its safety plans do not meet the security standards.
The new department will also set up a school safety review team in each of the state’s education service centers, which support school districts in different regions.
The teams will conduct vulnerability assessments twice a year of all the school campuses in their respective regions.
The legislation also increases funding for school safety and beefs up the state’s current truancy laws.
Districts would receive a base payment of $15,000 per campus and the amount of money districts get for improving security on campus would increase. And the bill would be more strict on how many days students can be absent before parents are sent to court.
Editors note: It should be pointed out that the school districts in the service area of The Banner Press have systems in place for school safety.
