AUSTIN, Texas — A sweeping school safety bill signed into law, House Bill 3, requires every school in the state of Texas to have an armed security guard and provide mental health training for certain employees. It takes effect Sept. 1.
The new law was passed more than a year after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Jacob Reach, Austin ISD's chief of governmental relations and board services, said he understands the legislation's timing but said the money the district is getting from the State won't cover all of its needs.
Austin ISD is looking at hiring 75 more student resource officers (SROs), plus additional support staff like detectives, lieutenants and dispatchers.
"It won't even cover all the needs that we need to meet the meet the requirements of SROs for all of our campuses, so we'll be having to look at some other budget sources," Reach said.
Reach estimated the State will give the district $2 million through HB 3, but that amount is only enough to cover about one-third to a quarter of the extra costs associated with bringing on new officers and supplies like police cars, tools, salaries and specialized training. Reach said the total cost could be as high as $8 million.
"We always want to make sure that we're putting money into the classroom where our students are. You know, that's raises for our teachers, that's [a] strong curriculum for our students, that's great afterschool programs for our students. That means that we may not necessarily be able to put as much money into those other things that we wanted to so that we can ensure that we're meeting these other needs or requirements from the State," Reach said.
On Aug. 10, district leaders will make a recommendation to the board that will set a policy for the number of SROs needed per campus. Once that number is set, job positions will be posted.
"I just think trying to hire this number of officers at once is obviously going to be a struggle," Reach said. "So I think we'll be ready for this, but we recognize it's going to be a big challenge."
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