By N. BRADFORD
Reporter News Staff
A new state mandate going into effect this fall has stirred concern locally, from funding to the effect of more firearms in public schools.
Gov. Gregg Abbott on June 13 signed House Bill 3 into law, mandating that all Texas school districts provide at least one armed security guard at every campus. Critics say the new law is another unfunded mandate from the state, which is already asking school districts to do more with less.
“We want security at every school,” Pearland ISD Trustee Crystal Carbone said during a June budget discussion. “I personally want an SRO (school resource officer) at every school. But that’s going to cost us as a district $3.5 million on top of the already projected deficit of $12 million.”
HB 3 increased the per-student safety allotment by $0.28 per student, and districts will receive $15,000 per campus to implement safety measures — it’s funding school districts say is not nearly enough to cover what is essentially an unfunded mandate, and school districts will have to dip into their own already stretched coffers.
A school board may claim an exception based on lack of funding or available personnel. Districts that ask for an exemption must develop an alternative plan that may include a school marshal or other armed staff member.
Two people addressed the Pearland school board in June regarding the law, expressing concern that schools are not the place for firearms.
University of Houston lecturer and former Pearland ISD teacher Cindy Dawson said she spent five years as a junior high math teacher and believes bringing guns to schools will put students at more risk, not less.
“I know what it’s like to step into a hallway with an at-risk student and find another rifling through my desk,” she told the board. “School campuses are dynamic and unpredictable. When teachers carry guns in schools, children are more likely to access those guns.”
The law goes into effect on September 1 of this year.
