ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House on Monday approved a bill which Rep. Jeff Dotseth, R-Silver Township, said aims to improve school safety after a change in law caused school resource officers to be removed from schools throughout the state.
“This issue has needlessly dragged on far too long, impacting local districts and compromising safety in our schools,” Dotseth said. “It is good to see we finally passed a bipartisan solution. We finally got traction on this issue once the majority party finally came around, acknowledged the problem it created and started to involve members of the House minority and law enforcement in discussions. The bill the House approved is not perfect but, in support of our children, teachers, education staff and law enforcement friends, it was important to approve what amounts to a reasonable compromise that will improve school safety.”
The issue traces back to an omnibus education bill (HF 2497) Democrats enacted into law in 2023, imposing new 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 (H.F. 3489) 124-8 and it now awaits action in the Senate.
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