By State Rep. Brooks Landgraf
Texas students and teachers deserve to be safe in the classroom. No Texas parent, student or teacher should have to worry about knowing if our public schools are safe.
Sadly, in the wake of the tragic loss of life in Uvalde, that is not the case for Texans today. As your state representative, I’m working on viable solutions to make schools safe, reduce mass violence and protect the constitutional rights of law-abiding Texans.
Unfortunately, this is a hard problem to solve – one that lawmakers in both parties all across the country have worked on for decades.
Here in Texas, we’ve implemented policies that have likely prevented many episodes of mass violence, particularly at schools. It’s hard to think how much worse this horrific problem could be if some of these steps had not been taken. And it’s also true that there are lessons that can be learned from Uvalde.
In that regard, it’s critical that we get a full and accurate accounting of what actually happened that led to the murder of nineteen young children and two innocent teachers. Any policies made in response to that shooting, should be based on the actual facts.
Recently, school safety was one of Governor Abbott’s emergency items for the 2019 session following the tragic school shooting at Santa Fe High School. In response, the Texas Legislature passed a slew of measures to increase safety and mental health support in Texas schools, most notably Senate Bill 11.
This bill required school districts to establish threat assessment teams and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to adopt standards for safe and secure school facilities. Furthermore, the bill established an annual school safety allotment for school districts to use towards improving security and providing mental health personnel. These measures are helpful, but we must ensure that they’re enforced across the state to maximize safety and effectiveness.
As your state representative, I’ve supported successful efforts directed at improving school safety including increasing mental health resources on public school campuses, providing additional funding to school districts to harden their campuses and improve security, expanding the school marshal program, and requiring school districts to implement emergency plans.
There is no question there is more work left to be done. I’ve already begun to meet with local law enforcement to gain their perspective, and I’ve also heard from many of you (especially educators) on how we can all do better moving forward.
I’m committed, not only as a state representative, but as a Texan and father, to seeking viable and constitutional solutions to make Texas schools safe.
At this moment we don’t have all the answers that we need, and I don’t know anybody who does at this moment. Nevertheless, I’m confident that as Texans we will come together and work diligently and tirelessly to find them. Speaking for myself, that process is well underway.
In the meantime, let’s continue to pray for the Texans we lost at Robb Elementary, and all the people who loved them.
God bless Texas!
