AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF)- Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is commenting on a request of him by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick surrounding school safety.
Lt. Gov Patrick announced last Friday that he is asking Phelan to join the Senate members of the Legislative Budget Board in a budget execution letter to move $50 million to either the Governor’s Office or Department of Public Safety to begin buying bulletproof shields as soon as possible so every member of school law enforcement has one.
“If every member of law enforcement across the state, approximately 80,000 officers, had a bulletproof shield in their vehicle, their ability to respond to an active shooter situation would be greatly enhanced,” said Patrick. “Of course, more training is needed, but we cannot wait for another school year to begin to better-equip our police who respond to these attacks.”
Phelan released a statement on the request this week.
“All Texans want to ensure that our students, teachers and schools are safe,” said Phelan. “The lieutenant governor and I are in agreement that this must be the case before the next school year begins this fall. While discussions are already underway in the Texas House about how to respond to the school shooting in Uvalde, there are also ongoing investigations into the details of this horrific event — and we will be utilizing those findings to determine how state resources should be allocated if we are to prevent another tragedy like this from occurring. While providing bulletproof shields for school law enforcement is likely to be part of that solution, the House will be taking additional school safety strategies into account, such as the enhancing of school ‘hardening’ measures and increasing the number of officers at schools.”
The House’s Investigative Committee on the Robb Elementary Shooting is set to begin its investigation this week.
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