So far this year, 27 people were killed and 56 injured in school shootings. Of those killed 24 were students or other children and three were adults, according to Education Week.
At this writing, a bipartisan bill to reduce gun violence is on its way in Washington. The bill includes funds for school shooting prevention and safety training for students and educators.
As part of the Kansas education budget, school safety will be upgraded this year by $5 million to fortify school facilities and security systems plus hire school resource officers. The Topeka Capital Journal reports that early requests to the Kansas State Department of Education for funding from 139 districts add up to around $10 million.
An alternative to safety funding is to arm teachers, as 28 states, not including Kansas, have done.
The three Republican primary candidates for Kansas Attorney General—the state's chief legal officer and top law enforcement official—Kris Kobach, Tony Mattivi, and Kellie Warren have each declared support for arming teachers.
Not everyone thinks this is a good idea.
The National Education Association and its Kansas affiliates advocate for schools to be gun-free.
Will arming teachers stop school shootings? Let’s consider how that might play out.
First, not all school personnel will be willing or able to carry firearms. Of those who are willing, many are handgun and shotgun owners like me. Hardly a match for an active shooter with military-grade fire power.
To win a gun fight, almost always the defender must be better prepared and more skillful. Would we expect armed teachers to undergo SWAT-level training, access AR-15 style weapons and wear body armor and helmets at school activities including bus transportation?
Active shooters typically confront small, isolated groups of students. Could armed teachers communicate with unarmed teachers in another part of the school and get to the shooter before it’s too late?
The effect on students when educators carry guns is a basic concern. Since 18-years-old kids may be gun owners, could schools deny students be armed if teachers are?
Teachers have voiced through national reports that their students feel less safe when teachers carry guns. Certainly, there is less teaching going on when teachers are tasked with the extra burden of fire-power readiness.
It’s conceivable to provide a mix of armed teachers, school-based security personnel and licensed peace officers in all schools, but the result wouldn’t make schools fully safe. Examples of school shootings elsewhere prove this.
Moreover, in a largely rural state like Kansas it may be possible to get local police to a school quickly but virtually impossible to get especially trained, tactical law enforcement assistance to each school quickly.
The reality is—we may feel better by putting guns in teachers’ hands—but it won’t make our schools safer.
What will make our schools safer is for our elective Congress persons and candidates for governor and attorney general to put Kansas kids’ safety first.
We need to push our Congressional and state legislators for laws and funding that will keep school invaders out.
We need to elect an attorney general in November who will enforce a statewide, widely publicized plan for increasing communication, training and coordination of law enforcement agencies.
We need to protect Kansas students both rural and urban.
The threat of school shootings is significant and increasing. It’s time for voters to act now.
Sharon Hartin Iorio is Dean Emerita Wichita State University College of Education.