Legislation that allows school boards to train school personnel or volunteers as armed sentinels for school protection is one step closer to becoming law. The House of Representatives approved the amendments the Senate made to House Bill 1087 Monday. Supporters of the bill say the amendments only strengthen the legislation. Representative Scott Parsley pushed to move the bill to a conference committee instead of approving the amendments.
“This bill has had a lot of emotion tied to it. We have seen the folks that are going to have to implement this procedure all oppose this bill. My hope would be that if my motion passes, that this would go to conference and this would wind up in a summer study where we could look at the broad nature of school safety, not just one aspect of school safety. It’s important that we do look at the broad aspect of school safety because there are other ways to address this issue than arming someone in our school.”
Supporters of Parsley’s motion say a summer study could address other options for school safety and answer questions of school districts. Parsley’s motion failed and members of the House concurred with the Senate amendments 40-19. House Bill 1087’s last hurdle is the governor’s approval.