U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) on Feb. 5 introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen school safety by reauthorizing the school security matching grant program in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.
Rep. Brooks is the lead original cosponsor of the School Safety Act of 2020, H.R. 5765, with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) to improve security and safety measures in America’s schools.
“The School Safety Act reauthorizes critical funding needed to protect students against the threats and dangers that schools may face,” Rep. Brooks said. “This bipartisan legislation is something we as policymakers and parents can join together on to help keep our kids and educators safe.”
If enacted, the legislation would reauthorize from fiscal years 2020 through 2024 the Secure Our Schools program, which provides funding to local, state and tribal governments to help meet schools’ individual security needs, such as training for students and school personnel and updated security infrastructure, according to the lawmakers, who are co-chairs of the Congressional School Safety Caucus.
“Too many of us have felt the effects of school violence in our communities,” said Rep. Brooks. “As a co-founder of the School Safety Caucus, I am committed to ensuring the safety of our schools so that students and educators alike can focus on learning.”
Rep. Larsen noted that the nation’s schools should be places where children, teachers and administrators feel safe. “Congress must do much more to make schools and communities safer and shrink the cycle of violence,” he said.
H.R. 5765 is under consideration by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.