The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Regan, R-Cumberland and York counties, now goes to the Democratic-controlled House. If passed, the legislation would start during the 2024-2025 school year. There have been 334 school shooting incidents nationally in 2023, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database.
The bill initially required schools to hire either a trained, armed school police officer, a school resource officer or a school security guard for every building, but concerns about cost and the ability to find trained officers led to a compromise, according to a report on PennLive.com.
Schools and school districts would be able to decide whether to have an officer at extracurricular activities and would have the ability to get a waiver if they are unable to obtain an officer after having tried.
Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Allegheny County, was one of 19 Democrats to oppose the bill.
"I understand why this idea might feel popular,” she said. “It sounds like an easy solution, but easy solutions won’t solve the problem of deadly school shootings. It will give us the illusion of safety all the while making our kids three times more likely to be killed in a school shooting ... according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.”
A poll conducted by Franklin and Marshall College found that 69 percent of Pennsylvania voters favor requiring school districts to have an armed officer in every school and 73 percent said it would make schools safer, according to the report.
