› U.S. Senate bill funds school counselors and security,
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander introduced legislation Wednesday that would make more funding available for school counselors and increase safety infrastructure following a mass shooting at a Florida high school last month that killed 17 people.
In remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Alexander, R-Tenn., spoke about the School Safety & Mental Health Services Improvement Act he is co-sponsoring along with 12 other Republican lawmakers.
“There are 100,000 public schools in the United States and most of the responsibility for making them safer for children lies with the state and local governments and families and communities that provide 90 percent of schools’ funding,” he said.
“But the federal government can and should help create an environment so that communities, school boards and states can create safer schools.”
The legislation would allow schools to use Title II funding, which provides support for teachers and professional development, to be used to hire more counselors.
According to Alexander, there was a 482-to-1 counselor-to-student ratio in the United States in 2014-2015, while the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250:1.
It would also allow schools to use federal Title II and Title IV funding for the professional
“… the federal government can and should help create an environment so that communities, school boards and states can create safer schools.” — U.S. SEN. LAMAR ALEXANDER
development of school counselors and improvements to school safety infrastructure, including installing new alarm systems, improving entrances and exits of schools, installing security cameras and other infrastructure upgrades.
Title IV is part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act designating funds for student support and academic enrichment.
The bill also would renew and update the law to expand a program, the Children and Violence program, that has helped train education personnel and ensure children have the services they need after a violent incident, according to Alexander’s remarks.
Finally, it also would create an interagency task force to make recommendations on best practices, policies and procedures to improve schools safety and safety infrastructure.
The proposal is intended to be complementary to one introduced last week by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R - Utah, that addresses programs in the Judiciary Committee to improve school safety and stop gun violence.
Alexander also said he is co-sponsoring legislation to have more effective background checks and he supports a proposal to ban bump stocks, which have the effect of making a semi-automatic firearm more like an automatic.