More armed police officers could be coming to Pa. schools as part of the state budget deal

More armed school police officers could be coming to Pennsylvania districts and charter schools this fall under a state budget deal signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro late Thursday night.

The controversial move was first championed by state Sen. Mike Regan (R., Cumberland), who has introduced versions of the bill for the past several years.

Regan’s legislation initially called for districts to have “at least one full-time, armed school security personnel on duty during the school day.” But the bill was ultimately changed and added to an omnibus education bill, requiring one full-time security personnel who is licensed and trained to carry a gun, but it would be up to individual districts whether that person would be required to actually carry a firearm in schools.

Districts would be able to apply for a waiver if they cannot hire such an officer, or don’t have a police department that can provide one. Each district who has an officer would receive a $50,000 grant, per the budget deal.

Regan had previously called for an armed officer in every school. Cost considerations caused that proposal to be scaled back.

The bill had strong opposition from some lawmakers. Shapiro has, in the past, signaled his opposition to the legislation when it mandated armed officers. But since it only requires officials be trained to carry a gun, if the district so chooses, it faced little opposition when passing through the Democrat-controlled House and GOP-controlled Senate.

State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D., Allegheny), the minority Senate Education committee chair, said the state should be more concerned with addressing student mental health, rather than allowing armed security personnel in schools. (Lawmakers set aside $100 million for school safety and mental health.)

“Somehow, we came to a deal on that,” Williams added in her floor remarks Thursday.

Donna Cooper, executive director of the nonprofit Children First, said the idea of armed officers was alarming.

“You have a school district with seven buildings and they say, ‘OK, we’re going to make you safe because you have one guy with a gun?’ That’s not what keeps schools safe. Mental health services save children, not more guns.”

Cooper pointed to school shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Parkland, Fla., where armed officers did not save students from dying at school.

In Philadelphia, the state’s largest district, safety officers do not carry guns; in fact, they were rebranded as “school security officers” under the leadership of Kevin Bethel, current city police commissioner and former district safety chief. Bethel wanted the force to focus less on law enforcement functions and more on mentoring and guidance.

Some city schools, however, do have Philadelphia police officers present at arrival and dismissal.

Some activists have called for the total abolition of any school police force.

An October Franklin & Marshall College poll found that 69% of Pennsylvanians surveyed were in favor of requiring armed security officers in every district. Twenty-eight percent were opposed to armed officers, and 3% were undecided. Asked if schools would be safer if every one had an armed officer, 73% said they felt schools would be safer, and 25% said they didn’t think schools would be any safer.