Saint Paul, MN —The Minnesota House of Representatives on Monday approved a bill to improve school safety after a change in law last year resulted in school resource officers (SROs) to be removed from many schools throughout the state. State Representative Jeff Backer, R-Browns Valley, issued the following statement reacting to Monday’s vote:
“The safety and security of students, teachers, staff, and our schools should be something that brings all Minnesotans together,” said Backer. “That’s why it is so disappointing that it took Democrats until March to swallow their pride, admit they were wrong, and join us in fixing this.
“This is an issue we have known about for months and could have been addressed before the school year started. Instead, Democrats refused to include Republicans in any conversations about remedying this situation until recently. Now, with our help, we can provide the clarification that law enforcement and schools need to make sure SROs can return to middle and high schools.”
The issue traces back to an omnibus education bill (HF 2497) Democrats enacted in 2023 that imposed prohibitions on the use of force in schools, banning certain physical holds by “an employee or agent of a district, including a school resource officer, security personnel, or police officer contracted with a district."
Language in the new measure provides updates which exclude SROs as employees or agents of a school district, exclude SROs from the prohibitions on prone restraints and physical holds; revise the “reasonable force standard” and mandate school districts and charter schools use only trained SROs and establishes new training and model policy requirements for law enforcement.
The House approved the bill 124-8 and it now awaits action in the Senate.
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