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School safety meeting: Special committee reviews Gov. Abbott's plan

State lawmakers want to keep school safety at the top of the agenda.

SAN ANTONIO — A special appointed committee held the first of two meetings at the Capitol to discuss ways to secure public schools in Texas.

Lt. Govenor Dan Patrick appointed the committee to address issues surrounding school violence. Monday, the Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security heard testimony from law enforcement, school district officials and a metal detector company. They revisited several ideas from Governor Greg Abbott's 40-page school security plan that was released last month.

The top issues they focused on were about mental health training, armed staff, increasing officers and metal detectors. The committee and people who testified were divided on issues, including how to fund the extra security measures.

Mike Matranga, the executive director of security and school safety at Texas City Independent School District testified at the meeting, emphasizing the need for more officers on campuses. Brandon Creighton, a Republican member of the Texas State Senate representing District 4, countered that it would be too costly. He said adding five officers in Texas school districts would quickly add up.

"If you just added five in each of our school districts, at $40,000 an officer, that's a quarter of a billion dollars a year," Creighton said.

But Matranga argued that metal detectors would be more expensive than putting an officer in each school.

"From what I've seen in my 15 years of experience is you gotta have 2 screeners for each metal detector," Matranga said. "Screeners, secondary screeners. Just for experience, I would need 100 screeners for my entire district. 14 campuses. Let's say you're paying $20-25 thousand a year? That's just 2 million dollars for my district alone."

Lawmakers also discussed having kids scan their ID's before entering schools, installing security cameras and securing entrances. Northeast ISD announced that it's tightening security on its campuses. It's locking all entry points at schools and requiring clear backpacks next school year.

Kevin Anderson, a parent whose daughter attends Bradley Middle School, said he hopes lawmakers will be able to find a solution to prevent another tragedy.

"Keep our kids safe. For me, when I go through school, I'm looking at the safety of every student there. What's the best thing to keep them safe?" Anderson said. "My hope is that they work together and come up with the best solution that majority of people can live with and move forward."

You can see the entire meeting from the Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security here.

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