Shiner ISD ready to abide by new state law mandating armed security

by Bobby Horecka

Responding to last year’s Uvalde school massacre which left 19 children and two teachers dead at the South Texas school in their last day of classes before summer vacation, the Texas Legislature passed a new school safety bill that mandates every public school campus to have at least one armed security officer present during regular school hours.
House Bill 3 was signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June and becomes effective Sept. 1.
Although there are many provisions to the bill, the armed security guard requirement is the one that has caught many people’s attention, especially in places like Shiner where the thought of having armed security patrolling the school wasn’t even considered until all the headlines about mass shooting in unlikely places like Uvalde and many others began to pop up.
Under the law, a “security officer” must be one of the following: A school district peace officer or school resource officer (SRO); a commissioned peace officer employed as security personnel; a school marshal; or a school district employee who has completed school safety training provided by a qualified handgun instructor certified in school safety, and carries a handgun on their person on school premises in accordance with written regulations or written authorization of the district.
Shiner Police Chief Kevin Kelso visited with the newspaper late Monday by phone regarding Shiner’s plan for HB 3 compliance.
“The city and the school have been in discussions since last school year already on the possibility of employing an official SRO at Shiner’s schools, and as it stands, we are in the process of running background checks on a couple of candidates right now,” Chief Kelso said.
That said, Shiner should easily meet the Sept. 1 deadline set by the state. But it was only because they started this process some months before that he can say that. If a school first began this process now, they may well be hard-pressed to find a candidate.
Especially considering that police agencies generally are experiencing one of the worst shortages of available officers ever as many older officers are reaching retirement age and taking it, ready to be done with an ever-changing police force. It’s left many departments recruiting at police academies like never before, Kelso said.
Of course, being a police officer has never been a more lucrative option for those who choose to stick with the profession. Salaries have seen some major increases in the last couple of years, even at smaller departments like his, just to stay competitive in the grand scheme of things.
If districts weren’t already in the process of hiring someone before the governor signed that bill, Kelso said they may be hard-pressed to find an office now. Between the overall dearth in officers, generally, they’re also likely competing with every school district in Texas for candidates, and more than 1,000 in all.
Thankfully, also, Shiner’s three school campuses—its high school, junior high and elementary—all lie within the same basic footprint as a single school complex. Other districts are not quite as fortunate and must seek out other alternatives. Moulton ISD, for instance, had to seek a waiver and include their renewed guardian program personnel in along with an SRO officer to stay compliant with the new state law.
Patrol officers regularly stopped and made rounds at Shiner schools last year, but the new law required a more dedicated staff member to work school security. The problem with concept is that few schools that are Shiner’s size have their own police department.
To keep their commissions as police officers in Texas, they must work for a licensed police force or sheriff’s department in Texas. Shiner PD will hold that officer’s commission, and because of that, it will also extend that officer his benefit, like health insurance and retirement plans even though that officer will spend much of the year working for the school district.
Officers are required to work the school day only. Should the school deem it necessary, other functions could be added if district officials feel the need for extra security, Kelso said.
“Most likely those would get opened as standard security jobs for us, with the SRO having first pick to work it since they already know most everyone they’d likely come across,” he said.
 If they didn’t want it, it would likely be offered to other officers on the force, then sheriff’s deputies and other departments, if it came to that.
Although some dollars were provided for by the state to assist schools in meeting compliance with HB 3 did not provide the full funding necessary to hire any one officer, much less an officer for each campus as the law suggests. The city and school will share that burden on a roughly 25/75 split, with the school district bearing the largest part of the costs.
In exchange for its 25%, the city will have access to the officer during school off times, which should work to better assist departments locally, especially when it comes to days missed for illnesses, children’s doctor appointments or other family obligations.