The Hays CISD board of trustees is set to discuss and take action on House Bill 3, out of the 88th Legislative Session which ended earlier this year in May, at a meeting Aug. 28.
HB 3, created by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, is a new public education law that will require at least one armed security officer on every public and open-enrollment charter campus effective Sept. 1.
A school security officer can be:
- A school district law enforcement officer
- A school resource officer
- A teacher or other school employee trained and licensed to carry a handgun
- A school marshal
- A security officer commissioned by the district
The HCISD board entered into an interlocal agreement July 24, increasing the number of school resource officers within the district by three to 15. However, the district has a total of 26 campuses to serve its student body of 23,000 students.
This means the district will not be able to comply with HB 3 when it goes into effect Sep. 1, like many other districts in the area.
Now, local districts face an increasingly competitive market for hiring on additional SROs to remain compliant with the new law.
Stay tuned
The board of trustees will consider a resolution Aug. 28 for a “good cause exception” from HB 3 requirements.
"Be it resolved that the board of trustees of [HCISD] hereby determines that the school district is unable to ensure that at least one armed security officer, as defined by law, is present during regular school hours at each district campus," the resolution reads. "The district's noncompliance is due to lack of available qualified personnel."
