(TheRedWire.com) – On Tuesday, Kentucky passed a bill that is aiming to improve school safety by giving school districts the option of hiring military veterans and retired law officers to work as school armed guardians.
The measure is part of the efforts made by lawmakers to improve school security since the 2018 school shooting in western Kentucky at Marshall County High School. The shooting cost the lives of two students while over a dozen others were injured after a student opened fire on school grounds.
The bill passed through the Republican-led Senate in a 28-10 vote and is now heading to the state House. Sen. Max Wise (R) sponsored the proposal which has been designated as Senate Bill 2.
The Senate also passed a bill that would give Kentucky voters the right to choose who should be on the state’s board of education. The measure also takes away the governor’s authority to choose the board members.
Under the school safety bill, local school boards are going to be allowed to hire and assign school guards. This is going to be an optional move available to local boards. Districts would be given the right to determine how many guardians they consider necessary from as early as the 2025-26 school year if the bill is voted into law.
Guardians would help cover the void for schools that do not have armed school resource officers. Currently, the lack of funding and officer availability has resulted in hundreds of school campuses not having officers in school.
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