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Back in 2023, the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring all of Texas' 8,000 public school campuses to have an armed security officer on site. Unfortunately, even two years later, less than half of all Texas school districts have managed to come into compliance.
A report from the Texas Senate Education Committee says that of the 8,000 schools across the state, around 52% of them had requested and received a "good cause exception waiver," which allows them to use an armed school marshal or trained teacher instead of a school resource police officer.
So why has it taken so long for schools to come into compliance with the security law? For starters, many officers aren't interested in serving in that capacity. Former school resource officer and retired police chief Catherine Torrez explained, "Most officers signed up because they want all the excitement in the streets. Being in a school all day isn't quite the excitement they're looking for."
Torrez also pointed out that finding suitable candidates to serve as school resource officers is one thing, and training them is another. She said, "Sometimes it takes a year and a half just to get a fresh rookie, and you really don't want rookies in schools. You want a more seasoned officer."
And then, of course, there are the ever-present budgetary concerns. Torrez highlighted the cost of resource officers, saying, "The uniforms alone and the leather gear that an officer needs to work, that's a huge cost. And then you have to hire someone to work in an office to keep track of all the records."
She says the simple fact is, such a large and expansive effort is going to take a lot longer than just two years.