Texas House Bill Could Adopt Gatesville's School Security Model

Gatesville, Texas is home to a grass roots project that it now potentially becoming the standard for other Texas independent school districts, and it also comes as a big relief to many districts that could be facing budgetary shortfalls due the passing of a law that went into effect in the fall of 2023. All Texas schools are required to have an armed guard on duty at each campus during school hours, and the state only provided $15,000 per campus, so extra resources are needed to be compliant with the law.

Obviously everyone wants a safe environment for students, staff, faculty, and administrators to be able to go about their day free of safety concerns, but in a time where schools are turning to four day weeks to attract quality educators because they cannot offer higher salaries, a law requiring extra school expense is a tough pill many are trying to choke down.

Gatesville ISD Program Could Now Become Standard For Texas Schools

According to this KCEN article, the Friends on Duty program at Gatesville Independent School District is being used as the standard for new House Bill 5526, and if it passes other schools could look to volunteers that are properly vetted to assist in covering security needs. Friends on Duty initially was created to prevent the tragedy in Uvalde from ever happening again.

Wouldn't it be great if the program eventually could reach nonprofit status, and expanded to serve not only the schools, but other community programs too?