The backstory
House Bill 3 requires public school districts and charters to have an armed security officer at each of their campuses by Sept. 1. The bill gives districts $10 per student and $15,000 per campus to implement its requirements.
LISD Superintendent Bruce Gearing said it would be “simply impossible” for the district to meet those requirements at its 48 campuses at an Aug. 10 board meeting.
The district had eight school resource officers from local police departments across its six high school campuses and Leander Middle School as of Aug. 29, LISD Chief Communications Officer Crestina Hardie said.
Current situation
Due to a lack of personnel and funding, LISD board of trustees discussed claiming a good cause exception to the school officer requirement at an Aug. 24 meeting.
The exception would allow the district to develop an alternative standard to meet the law’s requirements beyond the Sept. 1 deadline, said Bryan Miller, the district’s executive director of student support.
Miller and LISD Director of Security Russell Bundy recommended the district create a LISD Police Department with 35 school resource officers across its middle and high school campuses and hire 32 school marshals for elementary and alternative school campuses.
“With an in-house police department, it could be easier for us to hire these roles compared to the staffing challenges faced by surrounding law enforcement departments,” Miller said.
Creating the police department would be a nine- to 18-month process that would require approval and inspection from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, hiring and training new officers, and purchasing vehicles, weapons and uniforms, Miller said.
In the meantime, LISD could begin hiring school marshals. Miller recommended single-role marshals whose sole job would be to provide safety and security services versus a dual-role marshal, which would also serve in another capacity such as a teacher or coach, Miller said. These marshals would undergo 80 hours of state training, hold a license to carry and only make arrests to prevent serious bodily injury, Miller said.
Both school resource officers and school marshals would receive the same training and abilities to make arrests and bear arms; however, school resource officers would have additional arrest and investigation powers that would be needed at the secondary school level, he said.
What they’re saying
"I'm having a hard time with this one," Place 6 Trustee Francesca Romans said. " I don't understand how this can be put on any district much less a district of this size with the expectation that it's just going to be implemented immediately."
The cost
- Total: $7.6 million
- Personnel: $4.8 million
- Equipment/training: $2.8 million
The district will receive $1.1 million from the state for HB 3 safety requirements, including facility improvements, according to the district.
What’s next?
The board will vote on a resolution to claim the good cause exception at its Sept. 7 meeting, and further deliberate the creation of a district police department and use of school marshals in the coming months, according to the district.
