It appears at least one Texas school district might
have some questionable priorities when it comes to ensuring the safety
of students under its care. The district in question issued a request
for an exemption from a recently passed state law
requiring them to employ armed security personnel on school campuses,
claiming it lacked the funding to comply with the measure. Yet, it seems
the district’s coffers weren’t so empty that it did not stop them from granting a raise to its superintendent.
The Ector County Independent School District (ECISD)
passed a resolution in mid-August seeking an exemption from a new state
law that requires every district to provide an armed guard at every
school building, citing a deficient budget and lack of funds to afford
the guards. Now, the district is giving its superintendent a pay
increase.
The resolution, passed August 15, seeks an exemption
from the armed security requirements of House Bill (HB) 3 by state Rep.
Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) which was part of the state’s effort to
increase school security in response to recent mass shootings, including
the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
The new law requires
every district to provide armed security at every school building within
the district, however, there is a provision in which districts may seek
an exemption from the law if they do not have sufficient funds to pay
for the security.
“The District’s non-compliance is due to a lack
of available funding. The District is currently operating under a
deficit budget and is not able to finance hiring enough peace officers
to immediately and fully comply,” the resolution says, adding they will
provide a District police officer at every campus when funding becomes
available.
Under the new law, districts can also
allow employees to get certified under the School Marshal program, but
the district wasn’t too keen on this idea, according to Wallace Dunn, a
local firearms instructor:
HB 3 also allows for districts to comply by allowing
employees to become certified under the School Marshal program, and
local firearms instructor Wallace Dunn reportedly offered to provide the
school marshal training to the district at no cost but said his offer
was met with “a cold shoulder” by Superintendent Scott Muri and other
district officials. Many other districts have taken this option.
Yet, the district had no problem increasing the superintendent’s salary from $309,927 to $319,224.
Texas’ government passed the law earlier this year in response to last year’s school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Texas
lawmakers quietly passed a sweeping mandate for school safety measures,
including a requirement to post an armed security officer at every
school and provide mental health training for certain district
employees.
Texas House Bill 3, which was signed into law June 14
by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, went into effect on Sept. 1, and comes
in the wake of the horrific Uvalde school shooting that killed 19
children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in May 2022.
In
the bill, each school district campus is required to armed [sic]
security guard which includes: a school district peace officer; a school
resource officer; a commissioned peace officer employee; a school
marshal; or a school district employee who has completed school safety
training and carries a handgun on their person on school premises.
In response to several school districts indicating that they lack the
funding necessary to comply with the law, Texas House Speaker Dade
Phelan explained that Gov. Abbott would be convening a special session
in October, in which the legislature would look at increasing funding
for those schools that are struggling to add armed security to their
staff.
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