ST. PAUL – House Republicans unveiled a legislative package Thursday aimed at putting student safety first. Legislators’ multifaceted approach includes more resources to meet the needs of students and schools statewide.
This allows for hiring more school resource officers, student counselors and mental health professionals in addition to making critical building security upgrades. In total, House Republicans are proposing approximately $50 million for mental health and school safety funding, double the amount proposed by Gov. Mark Dayton.
“Improving school safety is a major focus of this year’s Legislature,” said Rep. Matt Bliss, R-Pennington. “We have listened to a great number of ideas and are working to take a thoughtful approach to what is a very serious subject. The package we have unveiled really will help us advance in addressing mental health needs and school security, two of the key components on this subject. It is important to note that we are allowing local officials and citizens to collaborate on solutions that best suit their needs. This is still a work in progress, but the set of bills we are working on is a good step forward.”
The following solutions, authored by numerous House Republican members, are currently advancing through the public committee process, and will be included in the larger proposal:
- School resource officers, student support personnel, and other school security programs funded through increased Safe Schools revenue, including a floor level of funding for small schools.
- School building security upgrades, and expanded use of Long-Term Facility Maintenance revenue for security projects, including emergency communications systems.
- School-linked mental health programming to ensure better outcomes for all kids.
- Physical security audit grants to provide state assistance to review facility security and crisis management policies.
- Suicide prevention training for teachers to help educators learn how to engage and assist students experiencing mental distress.
- School-based threat assessment teams established to assess, intervene, and report threats facing students, teachers, and staff.
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