AUSTIN, Texas — Fewer than half of Texas school districts surveyed have an armed security officer on each of their campuses, one official with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) testified Wednesday.
That’s required under House Bill 3, which state lawmakers passed in 2023 after the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 children and two teachers.
On Wednesday, the Texas House Youth Health & Safety Select Committee held a hearing on the implementation of HB 3, which also requires planning, training and hardening buildings.
“This topic is incredibly important, and I think it’s something we can all rally around,” Lockhart ISD Superintendent Mark Estrada said.
Estrada said his district installed silent panic alarms and has an armed officer on every campus to comply with state law.
However, to pay for it, Lockhart ISD voters chose to raise taxes.
“Unfortunately, we do not receive the funding [from the state] to actually implement the law,” Estrada said, adding, "That must be fixed this upcoming legislative session.”
Estrada was one of several school officials from across Texas invited to testify at the State Capitol Wednesday during a hearing about HB 3’s implementation.
HB 3 gives each campus $15,000, plus $10 per student.
“It strikes me that we’ve provided another unfunded mandate on something that’s very, very important and very, very serious, and we’re well short of what’s really required,” State Rep. Steve Allison (R-San Antonio) said.
Other school officials testified that recruiting armed officers has been tough.
John P. Scott, the chief of School Safety and Security for the TEA, told the committee out of the schools surveyed so far, roughly 45% have the required armed officer on each campus.
“The reporting is going on this week, and we’ll have the complete stats by the end of this week,” Scott said.
Scott testified the TEA did intruder detection audits at every Texas campus this year.
He also praised the recent launch of Sentinel, a new statewide system for schools to report safety information to the TEA free of charge.
State Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Johnson) told the director of the Texas School Safety Center she worries about what’s not being discussed: access to guns.
“It’s like talking about the symptoms of poison oak without talking about poison oak,” Johnson said.
Lawmakers can start filing bills in November. The next legislative session starts in January.