FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky school districts will need to consult with the state's school security marshal if they cannot have resource officers on every campus under a bill passed Tuesday by the House Education Committee.
House Bill 63, sponsored by Louisville Republican Kevin Bratcher, passed the committee on a bipartisan 16-3 vote. Democrats Tina Bojanowski, Attica Scott and Lisa Willner, all from Louisville, voted against the bill.
The legislation offers school districts "more guidance" on the School Safety and Resiliency Act, which directs school districts to assign at least one armed school resource officer to every school as funding and qualified personnel become available, Bratcher said.
The intent of that law, he said, was to have school resource officers inside schools. School districts would be required to report to Kentucky's school security marshal if they cannot have officers on every campus and develop plans to address such shortages under the latest version of HB 63.
"Rome wasn't built overnight, right?" Bratcher said. "I mean, it takes a while, and with the funding and the lack of personnel, it's going to take some time to get there."
Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, said she felt that HB 63 "directly" targeted Jefferson County Public Schools, which has been without resource officers since the 2019-20 school year. The Jefferson County Board of Education passed a $7.3 million security plan by a unanimous vote Jan. 27 that has a team of 30 armed safety officers patrolling schools in geographic zones primarily from their vehicles.
District leaders have defended the legality of plan, saying that every school would have assigned safety officers.
"We appreciate the bill sponsor acknowledging JCPS’ efforts to keep our schools safe," JCPS Communications Manager Mark Hebert said in a statement. "We will continue to follow Kentucky’s school safety laws."
HB 63 could greatly increase the scope of the JCPS security plan, which Bratcher called "a great first step," over time.
Bratcher acknowledged that districts face problems finding enough officers to cover every school and finding enough money to pay them.
Funding for school resource officers will come from districts' coffers "unless the district can't afford it," Bratcher said.
"They go to the (school security marshal) and they develop a plan to get them there, and if they can't get there, they can't get there," Bratcher said. "This is not an unfunded mandate.
Rep. C. Ed Massey, R-Hebron, urged lawmakers to help finance the push the hire more resource officers into schools. Districts "have been bludgeoned" with unfunded mandates from Frankfort over the years, he said.
Forty-three percent of Kentucky schools had school resource officers assigned to them, according to the 2020-21 annual report from Kentucky School Security Marshal Ben Wilcox's office.
"I think we need as a state to step up and fund the SROs in the schools around our state, including Jefferson County, because a life is worth that funding," Massey said. "... It's easy to pass a bill and say we want to do these great things, but we're not going to fund it. Until we step up to the plate and fund the commitments we make, we're going to continue to have these problems."
Bratcher said reporting to the state's school security marshal will give policymakers clear insight into issues preventing school districts from hiring more officers.
"You know before we ever dole out a dime that we want to know all the information of where that money is going, and this will be a great first step to get us to the point of hopefully funding the entire School Safety and Resiliency Act," he said.
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