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FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 5, 2024) — The Kentucky Senate advanced a bill Tuesday that would establish a guardian program to help improve school safety.
Senate Bill 2 would allow local education boards to hire some military veterans and former police officers to serve as school “guardians” starting in the 2025-26 school year. That would help schools cope with a dearth in school resource officers, according to supporters.
SB 2 also includes provisions to enhance mental health interventions in schools with trauma-informed teams. Sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, the legislation won approval with a 28-10 vote and now heads to the House.
Wise said the bill is not seeking to replace or remove any current safeguards and will instead serve as a stopgap measure to help districts that have had trouble hiring school resource officers in recent years.
“We have continued to see a rise in school violence, school disciplinary issues, and unfortunately, also a rise in mental health services in a post-COVID school environment the school administrators, educators and staff bring to us in their stories,” he said.
Wise said the bill shows a commitment to both the hardening approach to school safety and the softening approach for a student’s well-being to trauma and mental health needs.
Certain honorably discharged U.S. military personnel and retired local, state and federal law enforcement officers would be eligible to serve as guardians.
However, before someone can become a guardian, the candidate must pass a medical examination, a drug screening and an extensive background check. They must complete a psychological screening and weapons training.
Senate Minority Caucus Chair Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, said he voted in support of similar legislation in the past, but said he doesn’t want to see schools possibly become “armed fortresses.” He voted against SB 2.
“We’ve seen in this county, over the last several years, an increase in school violence, school shootings and mental health concerns,” he said. “Yet today, what Senate Bill 2 does is address the problem by saying we want more guns in schools, not less. We want more armed camps in our schools, not less.”
Thomas said the legislators need to get to the root of the problem by addressing mental health concerns.
Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, said rather that creating the guardians program, he would prefer for lawmakers to appropriate the money that districts need to hire school resource officers. He’s not sure how a guardian would interact within the system that already exists.
“And it again delays our investment in the SROs the school districts need and we’ve said that they’re supposed to have. Let’s do that,” he said.
However, Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, said lawmakers do not have perfect choices in the matter and that time is of the essence in active shooter situations. He voted in favor of the bill.
“Would I rather have a trained, armed veteran onside ready to act or would I rather have a highly trained SRO or law enforcement officer five minutes away,” he said. “That’s the choice we have.”
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