I am a 42-year-old mother of two young children. I was 18 when the Columbine school shooting occurred, but it wasn’t until my oldest child started kindergarten in Northside ISD last year that incidents of school violence started to weigh heavy on my mind.
When my daughter told me about active shooter drills, she bravely described how she learned to throw books at an attacker if one came in her classroom.
Later, her teacher described to me the bullet-proof vest she carried to work in her purse every day.
My heart ached thinking about it and the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde in May 2022 where 19 fourth graders and two teachers were murdered, but it still didn’t seem possible that such violence could ever come to my child’s school.
But that changed in the spring of 2023 when there were several incidents of threats at middle schools and high schools in our area.
Just a few miles from where my kindergartner was practicing her addition and learning to read, other students were on lockdown, their parents terrified that their children might not come home. Thankfully, those incidents did not lead to any injuries, but they helped me realize that the possibility of school violence can affect any school.
To sign and share the petition, visit bit.ly/makeschoolsafe
I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know where to start. So, over the course of six months, I met with campus and district administrators, the police force and school board.
Everyone wanted to improve safety. They wanted to make meaningful changes to improve school security and safety.
But a lack of funding from Texas lawmakers is standing in the way.
This year, the Texas Legislature increased the school safety allotment from $9.72 per student to $10. This is an inadequate pittance compared to the real cost of keeping schools safer today: adding bullet-resistant film on windows and doors, installing self-locking doors and fencing around school perimeters. Districts were also given an additional $15,000 per campus but that amount is grossly inadequate to fund even one officer.
Our state budget has a very large surplus, and Gov. Greg Abbott has made it clear he will be calling a special legislative session on education in October.
Outside of this special session, the next time the state’s education budget can be altered will be January 2025. Our children can’t wait that long for improved safety measures. Parents can’t wait that long. Teachers and staff can’t wait that long.
I can’t wait any more for someone to do something to keep my child safe.
That’s why I wrote a petition, online at bit.ly/makeschoolsafe, that calls on our Texas legislators to allocate more funding toward life-saving school safety measures for our children. I plan to deliver the petition before the special session.
Texas students deserve to be safe at school; their teachers, support staff and administrators deserve to be safe at work. We all deserve this peace of mind. San Antonio and Texas parents and all who care about children and teachers, let’s show lawmakers that our schools and children are important, and that we expect them to reflect those values.
Jennifer Tuttle is a wife, mother and veterinarian.
