Texas college shooting: Are Texas lawmakers now ready to act?
| Austin, Texas
Texas voters could decide whether to tax themselves to pay for armed guards or other public聽school聽safety measures under a plan outlined Tuesday by three Houston-area state lawmakers. At the same time the legislators discussed this in Austin, the Texas capital, a Houston-area college was in lockdown after a shooting wounded at least three.
The Texas聽School聽District Safety Act is the latest attempt to beef up security at public聽schools聽after last month's mass聽shooting聽at an elementary聽school聽in Newtown, Conn. State Senator John Whitmire, one of the bill's sponsors, said that while the original plan was to include only public聽school聽districts, lawmakers could consider whether to expand it to include college and university campuses.
Schools聽typically pay for security measures out of their general budgets. The plan broadly outlined Tuesday by Whitmire, State Sen. Tommy Williams, and State Rep. Dan Huberty would allow local聽schools聽to set up special taxing districts 鈥� if approved by local voters 鈥� to raise the money. Williams and Huberty are Republicans; Whitmire is a Democrat.
Williams, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, called the plan "a Texas solution to save lives without sacrificing freedoms" or instituting new gun control measures.
The plan is separate from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's call to have the state pay for special weapons and tactical response training for teachers and other聽school聽workers.
The Texas PTA called the聽School聽District Safety Act a "promising" plan that will "hopefully serve to shift the focus away from arming teachers and principals in our聽schools, a strategy the Texas PTA does not support."
The three lawmakers said聽school聽districts would have a dedicated source of money to pay for聽school聽safety measures. But because it may levy new property or sales taxes, the plan may also require an amendment to the state constitution, Williams said.
If approved, Williams and Whitmire said they would encourage聽school聽districts to contract with local law enforcement for security rather than try to create new, independent police agencies.
"We're not looking for聽school聽districts to have SWAT teams and tanks," Williams said.
