The Legislative Budget Board, composed of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan, Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman and House Appropriations Committee Chair Greg Bonnen proposed the transfer of funds, which was approved by Gov. Greg Abbott.
“Funds are necessary to support school safety, public health, and border operations during the 2022-23 state fiscal biennium, and this need creates an emergency,” the board said in a letter to the governor.
The legislative board set aside $400 million for school districts, which can be used to improve school safety by replacing or upgrading doors, windows, fences, communication systems and more. Some classroom doors at Robb Elementary School could not be locked from the inside, including the doors to rooms 111 and 112, where 19 students and two teachers were killed May 24.
According to a news release, another $15 million will be used to help build a new elementary school in Uvalde.
The school safety funding is available due to a budget surplus in the Foundation School Program, which is used to ensure all Texas school districts receive equal funding. Therefore, current school operations and funding will not be impacted, according to the letter.
“These funds will continue to support the community of Uvalde in the wake of such a devastating tragedy earlier this year and will help bolster the safety of Texans,” Phelan said in the release. “School security will be a priority for the Texas House during the 88th Legislature, and this additional funding is a meaningful step we can take in the meantime.”
The Texas Military Department will receive $339.7 million for border security under Operation Lone Star, including deployment of the National Guard. An additional $20 million will be used to help other state agencies respond to “the border crisis,” according to the release.
State leaders also designated $100 million to help the Texas Department of Emergency Management deal with remaining expenses from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding will be available until Aug. 31, 2023, according to the letter.
The funding announcement came hours after Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, spoke before members of the public during an Oct. 27 Public Safety Commission meeting. Multiple family members of the children killed at Robb Elementary School spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, as well as Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio.
McCraw pushed back against repeated calls for his resignation and told meeting attendees that the DPS did not fail in its response to the mass shooting.
“If DPS as an institution failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely I need to go,” McCraw said during the meeting. “But I can tell you this right now: DPS as an institution, right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple.
Criticism of the law enforcement response has remained high since the shooting. On June 21, McCraw testified in front of the Texas Senate, where he called the response an “abject failure” and placed most of the blame on officers from Uvalde CISD.
According to a timeline shared at the June 21 hearing, law enforcement was inside the school within three minutes after the gunman entered. Yet, officers waited 74 minutes to shoot and kill the gunman.
A Texas House committee tasked with investigating the shooting reported that 376 law enforcement officers responded at Robb Elementary, 91 of which were from the DPS. Just five officers worked for UCISD.
According to the Texas Tribune, the DPS fired Sgt. Juan Maldonado on Oct. 21. Maldonado was the highest-ranking state trooper to initially arrive at the school, and is the first state officer to be fired in the aftermath of the tragedy.
At least seven DPS officers are currently under formal investigation, according to previous reports from the agency.
Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke and Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa both echoed calls for McCraw to step down as head of the department. U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Uvalde, said in a tweet that McCraw “should resign immediately.”
