Survey suggests state funds won’t allay educators’ fears
$40M for school safety improvements can’t be used for training that many consider a priority
State officials asked educators what they want to help make their schools safer. Turns out few are interested in metal detectors. Plenty want more training, however, on what to do in an emergency and how to identify threats.
Part of the results from a survey of educators around the state gave lawmakers a clearer picture Wednesday of the concerns surrounding school security, but the responses also raised questions about whether new funding approved by the Legislature this year, which will only pay for improving buildings, can really get at the root of the problem in an era of heightened fears about mass shootings.
In the survey, conducted by the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority during a statewide tour, educators ranked an active shooter as the most concerning threat for their campuses. That choice was followed closely by student mental health and bullying.
Asked to rank which new security measures would be most important, educators chose increased crisis training for school staff, followed by better control over access to campus
as well as changes to school buildings, such as adding vestibules and doors.
Educators surveyed overwhelmingly said funding was the most significant barrier to improving school security.
In February, lawmakers earmarked $40 million over the next four years to pay for security improvements at schools around the state, but the money can’t be used for training.
The funds, which can pay for measures such as installing fences, windows and locks, will be handled like money the state doles out for schools to repair roofs and build gymnasiums, following an application process and review. Schools must to develop a security assessment with local law enforcement to apply.
The state’s Public School Capital Outlay Council will continue taking applications for these funds through July 27.
That funding, which will be awarded Oct. 11, will not address some of the needs — such as mental health and bullying — that educators raised in the survey, which was not scientific but included personnel from more than 70 districts. The funds also will not pay for security personnel or social workers, who are often stretched thin.
While educators who participated in the survey said there was an urgency to improving school security, they also said it was important to be deliberate and rational.
“We heard a variety of voices speak up and say we do not want to turn our schools into prisons,” said Jonathan Chamblin, director of the Public School Facilities Authority.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers raised concerns about inadequately addressing what they argue is the real issue: guns.
Gun control measures have met heavy resistance at the Legislature.
Funding for safety measures was what pretty much everyone could agree on during the legislative session, which came after a shooting that left two students dead at a high school in Aztec and ended days after the killing of 17 people at a Florida high school. But it did not satisfy some Democrats, who contend lawmakers should revisit restrictions on firearms.
Rep. Linda Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, noted that the federal government cannot research gun violence and argued that maybe the state should, instead.
“I’m not sure we know what it is we’re really trying to protect ourselves from,” she said.
High school students, along with gun control groups, argued Wednesday for laws that would hold adults responsible for keeping firearms out of the hands of children, and so-called red-flag laws that would give families or law enforcement a means of getting a court to remove guns from a home when a person is considered dangerous.
“Kids are scared of going to school every day,” said Zoey Craft, a student at La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. “And that shouldn’t be the case.”