A new Utah law requires armed guards in every public school, but without enough funds or personnel, schools are struggling to meet the mandate.
HB84, which was passed during this year’s legislative session, requires every public school in the state to have armed security personnel on-site during school hours. But the initial allocation — roughly $100 million — isn’t nearly enough to make that happen.
Members of the state’s School Security Task Force came to that conclusion last week after meeting to discuss how the new initiative was going.
“We have [schools] that — they want to do the right thing, they’re in the process of doing the right thing,” said Utah State Board of Education member Joseph Kerry on Oct. 14. “The funding continues to be something that they struggle with.”
Kerry said USBE plans to request another $100 million from lawmakers during next year’s legislative session, which would raise total allocations to over $200 million. The additional funding would help schools hire armed guards and comply with new “minimum” security standards outlined in the law, such as video surveillance; ballistic windows or security film on ground-level floors; and internal classroom door locks.
However, Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, said he estimates the final price tag could be much higher — about $800 million.
“That $800 million number is ... what I think probably really exists based on the number of schools, and what we’ve seen so far,” Wilcox said.
Task force members haven’t specified how much funding they ultimately will request, as the amount will largely depend on the results of school “safety needs assessments.” The law requires schools to complete the assessments to identify gaps in safety and security. The deadline for schools to complete the assessments is Dec. 31.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.