After Texas Shooting, Virginia Gov. Youngkin Gets School Safety Briefings, Calls for More Money for School Resource Officers

Governor Glenn Youngkin met with three of his cabinet members on Wednesday after a mass shooter killed children on Tuesday at a Texas elementary school.

“This morning, Governor Youngkin received a briefing from Secretary Robert Mosier, Secretary Aimee Guidera, Secretary John Littel, and State Superintendent Jillian Balow about actions taken to protect children in schools and the resources available at the state level to provide mental health access as needed in response to yesterday’s tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” spokesperson Macaulay Porter said in a statement.

“The Governor has asked his administration to evaluate steps already taken and future steps to help ensure our schools are safe. The Governor previously requested an additional $50 million in the budget for School Resource Officers and is hopeful the General Assembly will prioritize this important request,” Porter added.

In October 2021 as part of his campaign, Youngkin promised to require every school to have school resource officers or lose state funding, according to The Sun Gazette.

During the 2022 General Assembly session Delegate Karen Greenhalgh (R-Virginia Beach) introduced legislation to make that happen, but legislators passed an amended version that just requires schools to coordinate with local law enforcement officials, in response to concerns that requiring an SRO in every school would be an unfunded mandate.

In addition to requiring schools to coordinate with local officials, the final version of the bill requires law enforcement in areas to designate an officer to receive school-related training in areas where a school does not have an SRO.

That leaves Youngkin’s goal to expand SROs dependent on the success of his budget proposals as negotiators work behind the scenes to prepare a compromise for legislators to consider next week…. (Excerpt from The Virginia Star)