Photo: The Washington Post
A majority of Texas school districts have yet to comply with a state law regarding armed security on their campus.
According to a report by the Texas Senate Education Committee released in January, most school districts are in compliance with aspects of House Bill 3, which mandated that there be armed security in each of the state’s more than 8,000 schools, but less than half of the schools (about 45%) have the required armed security. Over 1,200 districts haven't yet complied with that aspect of HB3.
Katy ISD and Fort Bend ISD are in compliance with the law. Houston ISD, the largest public school system in Texas, currently has police officers in all of the district's middle and high schools. They also have plans to add armed security guards at all the elementary schools over the next three years.
Former police and school resource officer Catherine Smit-Torrez said schools face a few issues when trying to fulfill the armed security requirement. Getting people to be the armed security is one issue.
"You can't just put anybody in a school, you have to have people who actually have a passion to deal with kids," she said.
The Texas Education Agency told KTRH News that districts can also request for what is known as a good cause exception, allowing them to come up with an "alternative standard," such as arming a school marshal or trained teacher. For example, if a district participates in the school marshal or school guardian program and has appropriate staffing at every campus, it would still adopt a good cause exception in accordance with HB3. About 52% of schools have requested and received a good cause exception.
Smit-Torrez, who has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience, said aside from finding people with proper training to be a key safety measure at the schools, there's also an issue with funding for the armed security.
"Money always comes into play," Smit-Torrez said. "The school has to juggle student education as well as academic and safety needs."
HB3 provided districts $10 per student and $15,000 per school to pay for armed security. However, it's common for larger districts to see steeper costs for armed security like in the Dallas ISD, which costs upwards of $85,000 a year.
"If you have to move monies and the state isn't paying for them to put these people in the schools, they're going to have to rob Peter to pay Paul and some of these school districts, their budgets are extremely tight," said Smit-Torrez.
Money is just one of the issues. Smit-Torrez hopes that schools will find a way to reach that armed security requirement and not just hire "warm bodies," but people with proper training and who love being around kids.
House Bill 3 was passed by state lawmakers in 2023 following the deadly Uvalde school shooting.