A bill to arm certain teachers died in a House committee Tuesday, while another proposal allowing armed, off-duty law enforcement officers to provide security in schools advanced with bipartisan support.
The measure providing for off-duty law enforcement to provide security, sponsored by Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-Jonesborough, and Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, is known as the School Safety Act of 2018. The bill would create an optional district program that would allow volunteer sheriff's deputies, police officers and other law enforcement with Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to fill security roles.
The measure also takes the focus away from the bill that would have allowed certain trained teachers to go armed in schools. That measure is sponsored by Rep. David Byrd, R-Waynesboro, and Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald.
Van Huss said his bill has support from the Haslam administration, which has opposed the proposal to arm teachers. The governor has also committed $30 million to expand school security.
Both Republican and Democratic members of the House Education Administration & Planning Committee voted in favor of the measure to allow off-duty law enforcement to help provide school security. The committee defeated the armed-teacher proposal on a voice vote.
Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, said she was sympathetic to what Byrd was asking and that the days of Mayberry are over.
But other members were more critical.
Rep. Eddie Smith, R-Knoxville, said he thought the bill to arm teachers had been drawn up on a napkin, and Rep. Roger Kane, R-Knoxville, said he believes the proposal could open the schools up to lawsuits.
"I just feel like this is an emotional reaction," Kane said.
Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner David Purkey spoke before the committee and said that the governor's working group on school security met for three intense weeks and came to three conclusions.
First, and for the first time in state history, he said every school in the state would be assessed for vulnerabilities. Second, he said an app would be developed that would allow students to share tips.
But he said the other conclusion, and a consensus of the majority of the group, was that student resource officers are the preferred method for securing schools over arming teachers.
Before the vote, Byrd said that he also preferred student resource officers, but he wanted to do something now for rural communities.
This is a developing story.
Reporter Jordan Buie can be reached at 615-726-5970 or by email at jbuie@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanbuie
