UVALDE, Texas — On the two-year anniversary of Robb Elementary School shooting, educators say Texas’ school safety law is hard to follow because of a lack of funding.
The families of 19 of the victims in the Uvalde school shooting announced a lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers Wednesday. The announcement came two days before the two-year anniversary of the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
The lawsuit is the latest of several seeking accountability for the botched law enforcement response. Nineteen fourth-graders and two teachers were killed when a teenage gunman burst into their classroom at Robb Elementary School. Police waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the shooter.
“We lost those kids because of the delay of the police officers that were afraid of this gun,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-Uvalde.
Since the shooting, state lawmakers passed a law aimed at increasing school safety, but it’s been a challenge for some districts to implement.
“If the Legislature would have raised the age on purchasing these assault rifles from 18 to 21, we might have been able to prevent what happened two years ago,” said state Rep. Mihaela Plesa, D-Allen.
In the legislative session that followed, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3 into law to enhance school safety. The law requires annual intruder detection audits and gives law enforcement campus maps, complete with coordinated door markings for emergency evacuations. The law also requires districts to have one armed guard at each campus.
“We want to put as many layers of safety and security in place as possible. The problem comes in how do we execute that?” Bruce Gearing, Leander ISD superintendent, said.
Because of staffing shortages for local law enforcement, Leander ISD is creating a school district police force to comply. Their estimated is cost is $14 million, but the safety allotment from the state only covers $1 million.
“So we’re having to spend those additional funds out of our general operating fund. And so, of course, that then takes away from other things,” Gearing said.
The underfunded mandate has also been an issue for districts that already have their own police force. Austin ISD’s police department must grow from 82 to over 200 officers. They’re creating a motorcycle unit to recruit new officers and save money.
“Motorcycles are about a third the cost of a police car. So, you know, it was saving money on top of creating coverage, additional coverage for our campuses and our district,” Wayne Sneed, the chief of the Austin ISD Police Department, said.
Democratic lawmakers pledged to fight for more safety funding during next year’s legislative session, and for cheaper ways to mitigate gun violence.
“Red flag laws could have prevented something that we saw in my community of Allen. Background checks is another important thing that the Legislature could focus on,” said Plesa.
A bill to raise the legal age to buy an assault-style weapon from 18 to 21 failed in previous sessions because many Republicans believe there are already enough gun laws.
“In Texas, if you were to pass a law raising the age to 21, you would be restricting the constitutional rights of those 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds,” said Wes Virdell, the Texas director of Gun Owners of America.
Virdell is also the Republican nominee for House District 53. He believes more guns make people safer and if elected, he’ll support training teachers to use handguns and eliminate gun-free school zones.
“It has more to do with the person that is using that firearm. And so we shouldn’t make it harder for good people to have access to firearms,” Virdell said.
It’s unclear how many school districts currently comply with HB3, but school officials say their colleagues across the state are struggling.