AUSTIN, Texas — It’s been more than a year since a new Texas law requiring armed officers on all school campuses went into effect, and some Central Texas parents are concerned that their schools are not in compliance.
Texas House Bill 3 requires at least one armed security officer to be present during regular school hours at each school campus.
If school districts are unable to comply with the law due to funding or not being able to find enough officers, they are able to claim a good cause exception. If they claim an exception, either a school marshal or a school employee must act as the security officer.
Austin ISD decided not to claim an exception, but they’ve faced hurdles with funding.
The new state law only provided each campus $15,000, plus $10 allotted for each student. The money is also supposed to pay for other safety features required in the law, like fencing and panic buttons. AISD says the money wouldn’t even cover the cost of the salary for an officer, let alone all the other pieces required by the law.
For the district, they said that state funding would come out to only about $2.5 million, but to fully comply with getting armed officers on every campus, they would need to spend an additional $5.5 million.
But it’s money AISD parent Amanda says the district should be prioritizing.
“None of the options in House Bill 3 are to just disregard the law,” Amanda said.
At the start of this new school year, Amanda said the district informed her, that her son’s school does have armed guards, but they have to split their duties between two other schools. In light of the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia last week, Amanda wants her son’s school to have an armed guard all the time.
"I think I have an appropriate level of concern as a parent, having seen the recent events in the news in Georgia,” Amanda said. “I don't wish for that to happen to my children or anybody's children, and we can keep our children safe by following the law.”
Last August, AISD leaders voted to put armed officers on each campus. At the time, the district had 82 full time police on staff and 43 school resource officers, but to comply with HB 3, they would’ve had to hire 89 additional officers.
KVUE reached out to the district to get a number for how many AISD schools didn't have their own full-time armed guard, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.