Guns, threats and killings in Kentucky schools prompted this bill. Is it enough?

A comprehensive Kentucky school safety bill that lawmakers called a top priority has passed both chambers with Wednesday’s vote from the state House of Representatives.

And on Thursday, the Senate with a 37-0 vote concurred on some changes made in the House, which voted 96-3. The bill is headed to the governor’s office.

The legislation, sponsored by State Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, is an effort to improve school security through more staff, increased focus on the mental health needs of students and more oversight of school safety on the state and local level.

“It’s a great step forward,” House Majority Floor Leader John Carney, R-Campbellsville, said Wednesday in a floor speech. He said school districts would have time to make changes.

After last year’s shooting at Marshall County High School, the General Assembly created a bipartisan group to improve school safety. The group traveled Kentucky listening to teachers, students, parents, law enforcement and mental health professionals. What they found led to the legislation.

In a floor speech, state Rep. Chris Freeland, R-Benton read statements from the parents of the two students who were slain in Marshall County High School. In their statement, Preston Cope’s parents asked lawmakers how much was the life of a child worth.

“We cannot stand by any longer and wait for the next tragedy to strike,” Bailey Holt’s parents said in the statement that Freeland read.

Though not yet funded, the legislation would mandate the creation of a state school security marshal position to enforce safety compliance. Initially, the costs were estimated to be $196,300 in the first year and $173,300 annually thereafter for the position and associated costs, according to a fiscal note on the bill. Wise has said that the source of the funding will be worked out in future legislation.

State Rep. Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, chair of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said in a floor speech he was committed to funding the bill.

“The work is not done here, but only begun. We will be leading the nation in school safety,” he said.

Wise told members of the House Education Committee last week the total costs of the bill were unknown. Senate Bill 1 would be part one of a two-part bill that would be passed in the next General Assembly, he said. He was working with the chair of the budget committee to make sure that money would be available.

“It’s going to be the funding that’s the most important part of this bill,” Wise told committee members.

The bill would establish a state goal of providing more school resource officers who are trained in areas affecting school safety and security. The legislation would require districts to appoint a school safety coordinator to serve as the primary point of contact and develop policies for emergency response drills, according to a document from the House majority leadership.

The safety bill would require school district employees who have direct contact with students to receive active shooter response training. The measure would establish a state goal of providing more mental health professionals in schools — whether professionals would be limited to school counselors or include others such as school psychologists was debated Wednesday. Carney said the legislation has the goal to have one school counselor for every 250 students. But he said other mental health professionals would remain in the schools and possibly grow in number.

The legislation would require that suicide prevention awareness be taught to students in grades 6 through 12. Suicide prevention training also would be required for school employees who have direct contact with students. The bill calls for some safety requirements for main school entrances and classroom windows and doors.

The bill calls for a restructured school safety board that would include a variety of people, including parents and individuals in the fields of law enforcement, education and health services.

The legislation also would crack down on outside threats by criminalizing hoaxes and fake threats of violence in schools, labeling each as felony second-degree terroristic threatening.

Gun control is not in the bill that’s headed back to the Senate. State Rep. George Brown, D-Lexington, told his fellow lawmakers that gun safety would ultimately have to be addressed in the General Assembly.

Some of the requirements would take effect by the 2019 school year while others take effect by 2020 or later dates.

In Lexington, Superintendent Manny Caulk has already been implementing a new comprehensive package of school safety improvements for Fayette County Public Schools.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

This story was originally published February 27, 2019 at 2:34 PM.