From the cover
New legislation offers funding for safety, but critics claim it’s not enough
Current situation
What you need to know
The insufficient number of officers on HCISD campuses is worsened by “grossly” understaffed law enforcement agencies, both locally and nationally, HCISD Superintendent Eric Wright said. At a board meeting in August, Wright said that the district was set to receive an increase of 28 cents per student under the law. Based on data from the Texas Education Agency, HCISD will receive around $620,856 for the 2023- 24 school year while SMCISD will receive around $240,434. According to the TEA data, that equates to each district receiving just under $10 per student. In July, HCISD received three additional officers from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, bringing the total to 15; on Sept. 25, the board approved a request to the sheriff’s office for 15 more SROs to meet compliance requirements. “The total cost for adding additional SROs, at the count of 15, is going to be about $1.5 million,” Wright said. The sheriff’s office will need to meet with the Hays County Commissioners Court to increase the staffing budget and recruit and hire more officers to fulfill the district’s request, Wright added. He also noted it is unclear what the staffing timeline will be; a few officers could be added at a time. “This makes me believe that [the TEA has] no idea how they’re going to implement this with over 1,000 school districts, with over 8,000 campuses in the state of Texas,” HCISD Trustee Esperanza Orosco said.
“good cause exception,” which is an option for districts that cannot comply because of a lack of funding or available personnel who qualify to serve as an officer. Districts that file this exception must also implement an alternative plan that includes either employing school marshals or arming a district employee following the required handgun training. To fund additional armed guards, each district will receive $15,000 per campus and up to $10 per student, which officials said is not nearly enough to offset the costs of the officers. “We’ve worked incredibly hard to put high- quality people, responsible for our students, as best as we can [fund it],” HCISD board President Will McManus said.
In Hays County, two school districts face opposing situations: Hays CISD is failing to meet compliance with HB 3, and San Marcos CISD is fully staffed with an officer at every campus. SMCISD has school resource officers contracted through the San Marcos Police Department and school marshals employed throughout the district, said Andrew Fernandez, the district’s chief of communications and technology. The SMCISD board is also creating a committee to look into the creation of a district police department, another option to meet compliance as it can be more cost effective than contracting out officers. HCISD, on the other hand, has 15 school resource officers across its 26 campuses. As a result, the board of trustees filed for a
What is HB 3?
House Bill 3 is a new public education law, created by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, effective Sept. 1 that requires at least one armed security officer on every public and open-enrollment charter school.
Hays CISD
San Marcos CISD
26 campuses 23,347 students
11 campuses 8,352 students
4 school resource officers 8 school marshals $15,000 per campus $240,434 total allotment
15 school resource officers
$15,000 per campus $620,859 total estimated allotment
Hays CISD is not in compliance with HB 3.
San Marcos CISD is in compliance with HB 3.
SOURCES: HAYS AND SAN MARCOS CISDS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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