Texas House passes bills aimed at enhancing school security, including HB 3.
Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that aims to improve school safety by mandating armed guards in public schools. The bill was one of three measures that passed in response to the Uvalde massacre. The focus of each of the bills is on school safety. State Representative, Dustin Burrows, from Lubbock, authored the passed bill, HB 3, which was approved with a vote of 112 to 19.
HB 3 will place an authorized person on every public school campus in Texas to ensure a sense of safety for students and teachers. Arming police officers and employees with guns is also possible. However, an amendment to the bill specifies that their role must be limited to school security.
According to Burrows, this bill has come about after consulting with various groups, including parents, grandparents, educators, and classroom teachers from the town of Uvalde. Burrows’ primary aim is to ensure that every public school campus has a permanent security presence. He believes that this bill will help ensure safety for students and teachers and will be a step forward in respect to systemic failures.
Another school safety bill, HB 13, has provision to mandate mental health training for school personnel. Staff who receive firearm training to become “school guardians” will receive $25,000. State Representative Ken King of Canadian is of the opinion that any employee who takes up the responsibility of carrying a weapon on campus should get paid.
The third safety bill, which was advanced by the House, is to mandate panic buttons in public and charter schools. This will enable teachers to alert police or EMS in case of an active shooter. State Representative Shawn Thierry of Houston is of the opinion that since hearing rooms and state offices have panic buttons, children should be entitled to the same level of protection.
Although many agree that these three bills are a step forward in the right direction, some are unhappy that these bills do not address the key concern raised by Uvalde families. Representative Vikki Goodwin from Austin is of the opinion that the lawmakers should also be debating raising the age limit to purchase a semi-automatic rifle. However, Burrows believes that these bills have done what they were intended to do and that there are a lot of things that can be done to make our schools safer.
The House will hold a final vote on HB 3 before officials move it to the senate. Overall, there is a sense of optimism among lawmakers that this bill and the two others will make schools more secure. The ultimate goal is to ensure that all children are safe while they are in their place of learning.
