Hutchinson considers special legislative session with look at school security

Dr. Cheryl May, director of the Criminal Justice Institute for the University of Arkansas System, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson talk with reporters Thursday about efforts to improve school safety. Hutchinson said he had asked May to reconvene the Arkansas School Safety Commission that met in 2018 for a review of policies and needs in the wake of recent school shootings.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
Dr. Cheryl May, director of the Criminal Justice Institute for the University of Arkansas System, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson talk with reporters Thursday about efforts to improve school safety. Hutchinson said he had asked May to reconvene the Arkansas School Safety Commission that met in 2018 for a review of policies and needs in the wake of recent school shootings. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that he is considering a legislative special session this summer that would include addressing school safety and security measures.

The Republican governor said he will recommend that part of the state's revenue surplus be used to increase school safety efforts throughout Arkansas, which could be in the form of a grant program that could reach up to $50 million.

"I want to work with the Legislature to define [it]," Hutchinson told reporters Thursday afternoon. "It's important in my mind that if we have a special session for tax relief that we also have on the agenda the need for using part of the surplus for school safety."

The plan is expected to be ironed out over the coming months, and Hutchinson's staff had not replied by late Thursday afternoon to questions regarding from where funding might come.

Hutchinson said a grant could be used as one-time funding for specific security needs like better cameras, altering physical security for one point of entry and other items that are one-time investments.

However, he said "the ongoing, recurring needs for school resource officers have to be put into the budget so you don't have them there for six months or a year and then they are gone because of budget constraints."

Democratic Rep. Tippi McCullough, House minority leader, said equity issues exist across the state when it comes to school safety and that she believes a grant could be used to address them.

"Every school should be safe," she said. "Not just the ones that can afford it."

Republican Sen. Jimmy Hickey, the Senate president pro tempore, said it is his understanding that there are discussions going on among legislators regarding the use of American Rescue Plan/Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to address school safety.

"We also asked them to look at additional federal money out there that might require a match from the state," Hickey said. "This means we might not have to use state funds for this."

Hutchinson said he believes an armed presence at schools can create a deterrent and suggested that legislators might look at attaching a security measure to the funding schools receive per student.

"If we put a security factor in there, that would mean recurring additional funds for school districts where they need to hire a [school resource officer] or other types of enhancements," Hutchinson said. "That is up to the Legislature, and let me emphasize any change formula is a legislative responsibility, but I know that is something that they will be looking at in the future."

STATE RESPONSIBILITY

The governor said a more immediate solution would be using the potential grant program that would allow schools to address security concerns over the summer months.

"Right now parents are certainly worried and concerned and asking themselves the question of whether my child can safely go to school," Hutchinson said. "School board members and school districts are reviewing their security plans and their safety plans and seeing how it needs to be tightened and what more they could do.

"As a state we need to be in a position to help our local school districts in terms of their safety enhancement efforts. That is a constitutional responsibility of the state of Arkansas, to ensure that we have quality schools but also a safe school system."

Hutchinson also said he has asked Cheryl May, director of the Criminal Justice Institute for the University of Arkansas System, to reconvene the Arkansas School Safety Commission.

In 2018, the commission provided a report that is used by schools today, but Hutchinson said recent events such as the May 24 school shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead in Uvalde, Texas, have inspired the need to see if the commission has additional recommendations.

"I expect this to be a quick review and a quick turnaround because the substantive work has been done, but it needs an update in order to make sure that we address the needs of school safety," Hutchinson said.

May said the commission's 19 members worked for nine months in 2018 and provided 30 recommendations.

"As the governor said, we never stopped working on these issues," May said, mentioning some of the bills that were passed over the years that addressed school safety. "There have been a lot of individuals and superintendents, legislators, school staff, members of Division of Elementary and our staff at the Criminal Justice Institute who worked very, very hard to meet as many of these recommendations as we can."

Hutchinson said recent events also stressed the importance of audits, checks and required training associated with school security.

"Every plan that you have is subject to human error, and that is why you have to build in checks and balances and layered security," he said.

McCullough said she believes it's easy to agree audits are needed at schools regarding safety efforts.

"If there is something we can do to make our schools safer, I don't think it can hurt as long we don't make our schools seem like closed-off scary places," she said. "If this grant can be used for training, self-locking mechanisms, and things that schools are going to need, then I am fine with that."

May said the committee will examine the idea of a statewide network that would allow people to report potential threats to schools. She noted some states, such as Colorado, have implemented the concept and could be used as an example.

"If someone saw a threat to a school, they could call into this, let's say, hotline and the threat would undergo a behavioral threat assessment," May said. "There is another component to this as well. I believe in Colorado nearly 80% of the reports were threats of self-harm."

Hutchinson said a statewide network is something he wants the commission to consider.

"It could be of value, and we want to get a view of the schools," he said. "You certainly want a climate in which students or parents, when they see indications of mental illness or threats, that it's communicated and acted on quickly. Whatever the communication device that is helpful in that regard, we want to look at it."

ASSAULT RIFLES

McCullough said she still wants to discuss raising the minimum age limit for buying assault rifles from 18 to 21.

"If that is a conversation that we can have, then I want to have it," she said. "Raising it from 18 to at least 21 has been proven to help stop these incidents. I also want to keep pushing for more mental health. I think we still have to do better."

Hutchinson said he isn't looking to add gun control measures to the agenda. He said addressing school safety is an issue that everybody should be able to agree upon.

"You are not going to be able to fully protect schools without having school safety measures in place," he said. "That, to me, is something that everybody should agree upon. It should not be a debatable issue, it should be a responsibility.

"Whenever you look at access to firearms in our society, that is not going to change no matter what law we pass. So our focus should be on school safety."

Hutchinson said there needs to be an honest conversation about whether the minimum age to buy AR-15-style weapons should be raised to 21, but the first priority must be school safety.

"What we do has to be done smartly and by working together and thinking it through, if it will make a difference and if it's consistent with our Second Amendment liberties," he said. "That is a conversation that we should have, but what we are together on is simply school safety, and that is our first responsibility."

McCullough said there needs to be a sense of urgency.

"As we are being patient, these incidents keep happening," she said. "I know we have to be smart, but I am not sure we need to be patient. We need to be urgent. We need to do meaningful things that will have a real effect on what is going on."

Hickey said there would not be a consensus when it comes to adding gun control to a special session agenda.

"There will not be a consensus for that in any way, shape or fashion," he said.


  photo  Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that he isn’t looking to add gun control measures to the school safety agenda. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)
 
 


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