On anniversary of deadly school shooting, bill arming safety officers gets initial OK

On the second anniversary of a deadly shooting at Kentucky’s Marshall County High School, a bill that would allow school resource officers to carry a gun was approved Thursday by the General Assembly’s Senate Education Committee.

“That sworn law enforcement officer who is within the school walls when a parent drops their child off from school will be armed with a firearm,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville. “I think government has a responsibility of public safety and I think it only common sense that we take this approach.”

The sworn law enforcement officers who will be armed have 120 hours of training, he said.

Senate Bill 8 now goes to the full Senate.

The requirement for the school resource officers to carry a gun was a change in a comprehensive school safety bill that lawmakers approved in 2019 but have not yet funded. Fayette County Public Schools police officers have been armed for years, but that is not the case in other districts.

Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, noted that 11 counties in Kentucky don’t even have school resource officers and that should be a priority. Thomas said that Christy Morris, a new member of the school board in Fayette County, that has already implemented several school safety upgrades, had come to Frankfort Thursday to watch the hearing.

Wise said Senate Bill 8 improves upon the wide-ranging school safety legislation passed in 2019. It changes that law to say that every school campus would need a school resource officer instead of every school building. School resource officers would also eligible for state death benefits in the line of duty. The responsibility for active shooting training would shift from the state Department of Education to the Department of Criminal Justice under the bill.

The bill allows the State School Security Marshal to adjust requirements to keep classroom doors locked during instructional hours.

Students would receive increased mental health assistance through the legislation, lawmakers on the panel were told.

After a school shooting in Marshall County in 2018 that killed two students and injured several others, the General Assembly created a bipartisan group to improve school safety that took recommendations from teachers, students, parents, law enforcement and mental health professionals. Lawmakers on the panel began Thursday’s meeting by observing the second anniversary of the shooting.

“I think it’s very important that people in Marshall and across the state know that this legislature has not forgotten about this and we will not forget about this” and are taking steps to insure the safety of schools, State Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah and a Marshall County High graduate told the panel.

The Kentucky School Boards Association has said school districts will need about $18 million to improve safety features at school buildings and at least $121 million more each year for resource officers and counselors to comply with the school safety law. Funding is expected to be included in the next two-year budget that lawmakers and Gov. Andy Beshear will craft this year. Wise said school safety would have to a focus in future budgets as well.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, recently told the Herald-Leader that Senate Bill 8 would be one of the priorities of the 2020 General Assembly and said Thursday that he thought the school safety legislation was one of the General Assembly’s “brighter moments” in the last several years.

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 2:52 PM.