School safety in Dallas ISD begins with secure facilities and controlled access. But it goes well beyond buildings and includes mental-health supports, campus threat-assessment teams and an anonymous “Say Something” system that routes concerns to the right people, write Sarah Weinberg and Kevin Malonson.
As kids return to classrooms across Texas, many parents are asking: Is my child safe at school? The answer matters because families need confidence in the schools they entrust with their children, and students need to feel secure enough to learn.
A child who feels secure can focus on a lesson, tackle difficult material and learn. In Dallas ISD, we are investing in school safety while our students make significant academic progress.
In the latest Texas Education Agency accountability ratings, DISD earned a B, climbing to an 85 — up nine points since 2023. Seventy-one percent of our schools earned an A or B, and 2026 STAAR results showed more students reaching both “meets” and “masters” status. Those gains belong to our students and educators, and safe, focused campuses help create the conditions for that work.
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In 2023, the Legislature raised the bar for school safety by requiring an armed officer on every campus and increasing school safety funding, making clear that campus safety is a statewide priority. As a DISD trustee and a DISD parent, we see both the progress made and the work still ahead.
School safety in DISD begins with secure facilities and controlled access. But it goes well beyond buildings and includes mental-health supports, campus threat-assessment teams and an anonymous “Say Something” system that routes concerns to the right people. Staff train on safety each year, students receive safety education and campuses run SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) clubs. When students and families raise practical concerns about security, student movement or communication, schools get better information and stronger solutions.
Police are an important part of that work. Officers are ready to respond when something goes wrong, but their role starts long before an emergency. They need to know their campuses and build relationships with students so young people feel comfortable speaking up when something seems off.
Texas recognizes that school policing is different from policing elsewhere. School officers receive specialized training in child and adolescent development, mental-health crisis intervention, de-escalation and restorative practices. The principle is simple: An officer in a school should understand children as children, not just as threats to manage.
None of this works by mandate alone. The strongest safety plans are built with communities, students and school leaders. By placing oversight with locally elected trustees, the Legislature also gave communities a role in making sure those plans work in every building.
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These commitments carry real costs, and the state has authorized billions of dollars in school safety investments since 2019. That includes the Legislature’s decision last session to double its investment in school safety, now providing roughly $33,540 per eligible campus plus a per-student amount. In the 2025-26 school year, that totaled roughly $10 million for DISD. It is a meaningful and deeply appreciated investment, but still well short of the roughly $45 million the district spent on school safety. We hope the Legislature will continue to prioritize this work in the upcoming session so that districts have the resources to meet the state’s expectations.
Much of that ongoing spending is not for one-time investments like doors or cameras, but for officers, training and mental-health support. Districts must cover these expenses alongside other classroom priorities.
Funding makes strong safety systems possible. People make them work: a teacher who recognizes a warning sign, an officer a student trusts, a parent who asks a hard question or a classmate willing to speak up.
DISD’s academic progress shows why this matters. Safe, stable schools give teachers room to teach and students room to learn. Texas has made real progress on school safety. Now we look forward to partnering with lawmakers to ensure funding keeps pace with safety standards.
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Sarah Weinberg is Dallas ISD District 2 trustee and Kevin Malonson is a Dallas ISD parent and CEO of Dallas Afterschool.
