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With Texas House Bill 3 coming into effect this school year, students across the state will be seeing armed “school resource officers” for the first time, while Elgin Independent School District learners have already had some practice with this transition.
The bill arrives in the wake of the Uvalde mass casualty event, the deadliest public school shooting in Texas history, where 19 children and two teachers were left dead. It implements the development of campuswide security measures and mandates the presence of an armed security guard on every school grounds.
Texas schools can call upon their city’s police departments to fill these positions, but Elgin ISD has employed veteran peace officers for several years now, according to information provided on the district’s website.
“Elgin ISD seems to be taking an active approach on making sure that we ensure everybody is safe and secure,” said Bridgette Cornelius, the district’s new executive director of safety and risk management, who started in July.
“I feel like we’re a little bit ahead of the curve in terms of taking a look at what House Bill 3 is asking and making sure we fulfill not only that mandate, but doing what’s best for the campus and its safety.”
Elgin campus SROs are independent from the Elgin Police Department, but the district maintains a working relationship with the station, according to Cornelius, working towards having more of a collaboration in the future.
The bill can potentially put added stress on the police departments of smaller towns, where more officers are now required to fill the SRO positions, Cornelius added. Elgin’s safety and security officers all have the required training of SROs or school district police officers, and operate under a Governmental Letter of Authority issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Regulatory Services Division.
The officers also receive additional specialized training on crisis intervention techniques, mental health awareness, diversity and de-escalation techniques.
While the bill does provide $15,000 of added funding for each campus, as well as more for the number of enrolled students, this doesn’t come close to covering the costs associated with the mandate, noted Cornelius.
“House Bill 3 was a huge mandate,” she said. “In terms of the funding, 15,000 per campus is not enough at all.”
The general salary for an officer is about $70,000, not including the cost of equipment and other essentials.
The district has been able to meet the needs of the new requirements.
“Elgin ISD is resourceful, in terms of grants,” said the director.
It is a focus of the school district to not only meet the mandate, but to ensure the safety and well-being of its students and staff, Cornelius added.
“Safety and security is our number one priority,” she said. “The kids have to be safe in order to learn, and the teachers and everybody in the building have to feel that level of safety.”
In order not to compromise this security, understandably, Cornelius would not provide details on the exact number of officers, or allow for any pictures or comments from the protectors.
