Greetings,
The 2018 legislative session is underway and there are plenty of challenges in front of us this year as we take on everything from tax conformity to bonding for construction projects and fixing our broken new vehicle licensing system.
Another very important issue – school safety – has come to the forefront in the wake of the recent Florida tragedy. Those of us in or near the Rocori district are all too familiar with what those people in Florida are experiencing and our prayers go to out to them.
There certainly is no shortage of public opinion on how we should respond. From my perspective, heightened security at our schools and a sharper focus on children’s mental health should be core objectives. Before we get to more on those, I want to highlight a couple of steps we took on the legislative level to address mental health and school safety.
Last session, we passed $405,000 for the School Safety Center, which is part of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The Safety Center conducts 200 training sessions around the state each year, providing recommendations to schools which help identify red flags and behavioral clues, intruder responses and access controls to better secure our schools.
In addition, the K-12 Education bill enacted last year authorizes the Safe Schools Levy, which provides funding for school resources officers (police in schools), school security measures, and school mental health professionals.
In 2016, the Legislature funded school-linked mental health and the funding was continued in 2017. These funds help expand services to school buildings or school districts or counties that do not have any existing grants to provide training on evidence-based practices to improve mental health and address mental health challenges. The current K-12 education budget also includes $2.45 million for mental health innovation grants for intermediate schools aimed at improving mental health outcomes for children.
Funding for mental health helps us begin to get at what I believe is one of the most important pieces to the puzzle: Improving the way we deliver care for our children so we can stop failing our youth.
Some say it takes a village to raise a child and that old adage may apply to this issue. Family, friends and school staff all need to be aware of where a kid’s mind is. Children are our greatest assets and we need to do whatever it takes to protect them – including when they could be their own greatest threat or are showing signs they may engage in violence.
We also must tighten security at our schools. This has been done at government buildings, airports and other facilities throughout our nation. Schools that have experienced these horrific tragedies have increased security and protections in their buildings, yet many remain vulnerable to unacceptable threats.
Man-made catastrophes may never be completely eliminated, but we could achieve reasonable solutions for making our schools more secure in the near future. Increased security, building hardening and awareness on mental health issues are what I believe will do the most to protect our next generations. Those are the areas where I will be focusing my legislative energy on this issue and I welcome your input.
Good luck,
Jeff