HAYS COUNTY, Texas — Many school districts continue to try to meet the requirements of a new Texas law. Now, one Central Texas school district is hiring more than a dozen school resource officers to comply with the safety law.
On Monday night, Hays Consolidated Independent School District approved hiring another 15 school resource officers for its campuses to meet the requirements of House Bill 3. They'll come from the Hays County Sheriff's Office, which is also currently understaffed.
Last month, Hays CISD board members unanimously approved a "good cause" exemption to the law, saying there was a lack of available, qualified officers.
READ MORE: Hays CISD joins list of districts that can't find enough armed officers to comply with new law
Board members say their new frustration is because the superintendent says the Texas Education Agency has no real guidance for districts as they try to staff up, saying it's just another way to fail public education.
"With the officer shortage that I think we're all dealing with, we're all competing for the same officers," Jeri Skrocki, Hays CISD's chief of safety and security, told KVUE in August.
Districts had the option to create a marshal program where school staff receive training to bear arms, a guardian program where civilians were trained or, lastly, to hire a private company.
In an effort to comply with HB3, Hays CISD said it still plans to create a guardian or marshal program to have armed staff at its schools while it waits for the new school resource officers to be trained.