House committee advances bill putting more focus on school resource officers

Critics say more focus needed on mental health services

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday continued wrestling with a long-running challenge — how to get police officers assigned to every school campus, an issue intensified by a 2018 school shooting.

The House Education Committee advanced a bill to require Kentucky school districts to have an officer assigned to each campus by August. But the panel revised the measure, acknowledging that some districts are struggling to meet the standard because of insufficient funding or law enforcement staffing.

Under a change to the bill, those districts would work with the state school security marshal to work out a plan to achieve the expectation of having a school resource officer at each campus.

“With the funding and the lack of personnel, it’s going to take some time to get there,” Republican Rep. Kevin Bratcher, the bill’s lead sponsor, told the committee.

More than half of Kentucky’s schools do not have a resource officer, according to an August report from the state school security marshal.

School superintendents are also reacting to the legislation.

“I think that just finances and just whether there’s enough candidates to fill those roles are gonna be some of the challenges that school districts face,” said Montgomery County Schools superintendent Dr. Matt Thompson. “But I’m one of those supporters who would say if we can do it, lets try to find a way to have an SRO at each school or assigned to each school.”

“We’ve been talking to our board and that is just a goal that we would like to meet to have more officers at our other schools,” said Bourbon County Schools superintendent Amy Baker.

The bill, which now advances to the full House, is a follow-up to a sweeping school safety measure passed by Kentucky lawmakers in 2019. The bill was intended to bolster police protection and counseling at schools. It came in response to the 2018 shooting at Marshall County High School in western Kentucky that killed two students and injured many more.

Funding has been a chronic problem in implementing the 2019 legislation. State law currently requires districts to “assign” an officer to each campus.

Rep. C. Ed Massey said the state should provide the money to have officers assigned to schools.

“A life is worth that funding,” the Republican lawmaker said.

Lawmakers are crafting a new two-year state budget, and an array of spending proposals are competing for attention amid the state’s massive revenue surplus.

At times, the committee hearing turned into a discussion on how to best promote school safety.

Officers assigned to schools would be “at the ready if the unspeakable happens,” Bratcher said. Other lawmakers said the officers are positive influences and can bond with students.

“Our youth are dealing with so many issues,” said Republican Rep. James Tipton. “They need positive role models. And they need to learn that they can trust a police officer. … And that seems to be lacking in our society.”

Sadiqa Reynolds, president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, said the focus should be on bolstering counseling and other mental health services for students. She said she supports the police but said that assigning officers to campuses wouldn’t prevent school shootings.

“Invest in preventive health,” she urged lawmakers. “Police are Band-Aids. We need front-end support for our students.”

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The legislation is House Bill 63.