The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday unanimously agreed to evaluate school safety and security programs with an eye toward informing future legislation.
The resolution, introduced by Martic Township Republican Scott Martin, asks the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the effectiveness of the School Safety and Security Grant Program, the Safe2Say Something school threat reporting system and the School Safety and Security Committee.
“The Senate has led the way in making sure our schools have the resources they need to keep kids safe,” said Martin, who in 2018 introduced the legislation that created the programs. “Now that these programs have been in place for five years, it is critical to take a look back at what we have accomplished and consider ways to make these programs even more efficient and effective in the years ahead.”
According to Martin’s spokesperson, the study will gather data from current programs, input from agencies involved with school safety and information about programs in other states to make recommendations on how to improve security in the state’s schools.
The resolution doesn’t need approval by the House and will go directly to the legislative research committee, which is the Legislature’s primary research agency and is operated jointly by the House and Senate and governed by a bipartisan panel of legislators.
Stephen Fickes, deputy executive director for the research committee, said he expects to move forward with the study. The committee would report its findings to the General Assembly sometime before Nov. 30, 2024.
