The details
Superintendent Mark Foust said that the need to contract with the companies came as a response to House Bill 3, which requires school boards to ensure at least one armed security officer is present during regular school hours at each campus.
Just before the board voted on establishing contracts with the security companies, they voted unanimously to approve a resolution to declare an exemption for good cause for House Bill 3.
District documents say that when the Legislature passed House Bill 3, it created an unfunded mandate for school boards to ensure that at least one armed security officer is present during regular school hours at each campus.
Diving in deeper
The new law requires that the armed security officer be a commissioned peace officer, namely a school district peace officer, a school resource officer, or a commissioned peace officer employed as security personnel under Texas Education Code 37.081, according to district documents. The code also provides that if a school board is unable to comply with this requirement, the board may claim an exemption for good cause if the district's noncompliance is due to the lack of availability of funding or qualified personnel.
According to district documents, Northwest ISD administration recommended that the board claim a good cause exemption based on the lack of available funding and develop an alternate standard to comply with the House Bill 3 requirement.
Foust said that the district currently has school resource officers on all of its secondary campuses, however the $15,000 per campus that the state has allotted is “not nearly enough” to provide for a full-time certified police officer on each of the elementary campuses.
What they’re saying
“The law requires us to waive the requirement to have a police officer,” Foust said. “But we have to have a backup plan, [so] we’re asking the board to waive that requirement because we don’t have enough money to fund a certified police officer or [school resource officer] at the 22 elementaries.”
Assistant Superintendent for Facilities Tim McClure mentioned that a typical SRO cost anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 a year per campus. Board President Steve Sprowls commented that the difference between the $15,000 state allotment and the cost of a SRO was a “big, big shortfall.”
“You would think that if it was important to [the state] to pass this kind of legislation, that they would fund it as well,” Sprowls said.
