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The House Select Committee on Youth & Safety met Monday, March 27, 2023, to hear testimony on a long list of bills, including seven related to K-12 education.

TASA submitted testimony “on” HB 3 (Burrows), which would make a number of changes to public school safety and security requirement. The bill’s many provisions include:

  • requiring charters to have at least one armed security officer on each campus and giving TEA the authority to monitor implementation and operation of school safety and security requirements
  • requiring at least one armed security officer at each district campus during regular school hours
  • requiring the Texas School Safety Center to establish definitions of preventing, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery for the purposes of a multihazard emergency operations plan required to be adopted by school districts
  • making TEA responsible for monitoring the implementation and operation of school district multihazard emergency operations plans as well as safety and security audits (each district would be required to have at least one intruder detection audit per year and would have to have at least 25% of campuses physically audited)
  • permitting TEA to establish an office of school safety within the agency to coordinate TEA’s monitoring
  • permitting the commissioner to take action, including assignment of a conservator or board of managers, for districts that fail to submit to required monitoring, comply with safety and security requirements, or address issues raised by monitoring in a reasonable time period
  • requiring districts to use proceeds from bonds to be used to come into compliance with school safety standards before being spent otherwise
  • increasing the school safety allotment to $10 per student in ADA plus $1 per student in ADA per every $50 that the district’s maxiumum basic allotment exceeds $6, 160 plus $15,000 per campus

Read a full summary of the bill by searching for HB 3 on TASA’s Bill Tracker.

TASA also submitted testimony in support of HB 13 (Ken King). The bill’s many provisions include:

  • requiring every district employee who regularly interacts with students to complete an evidence-based mental health first aid training program (the requirement would be phased in and TEA would have to provide an allotment for travel/training)
  • permitting districts and charters to authorize the presence of “school guardians” on campus (employees authorized to carry or possess a weapon for the purpose of providing safety and security)
  • requiring districts to establish clear procedures for student to report concerning behavior of other students for assessment
  • requiring districts and charters to adopt and implement an active shooter preparedness plan annually
  • increasing the school safety allotment to $100 per student in ADA

Read a full summary of the bill by searching for HB 13 on TASA’s Bill Tracker.