School Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5242. This legislation under consideration today will improve our understanding about the role of school resource officers. But we must acknowledge that this bill barely scratches the surface of what is actually required to keep our schools safe, and I urge this body to do more.

In the wake of February's tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, many have called for a so-called Federal focus on hardening of our schools, which includes increasing Federal dollars to hire more police officers and embracing the most harsh punishments for school discipline, and even allowing school teachers to carry firearms, despite the overwhelming evidence that many of these initiatives do more harm than good.

In fact, anyone hoping for a discussion of evidence-based methods for preventing school violence must be profoundly disappointed at our reaction since February.

Anyone hoping that the call for harsher school discipline would be sensitive to how it would be applied to students of color and those with disabilities must be disappointed.

Anyone hoping this Chamber would find the political will to take a stand with parents, students, and the overwhelming majority of Americans to take action on sensible gun legislation must be disappointed.

We have failed to act as one after another of these unthinkable tragedies have become commonplace.

In the decades since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, States and districts have rushed to increase school-based law enforcement presence. The Parkland tragedy serves as a painful reminder that this effort has not, despite its best efforts, eliminated mass school shootings.

Nearly two decades later, mass shootings in schools still persist, while student behavior has been criminalized, leading to millions of students entering the school-to-prison pipeline.

H.R. 5242 would direct the Departments of Justice and Education to conduct voluntary data collection on school districts' hiring of law enforcement officers. And I would remind my colleagues that we have a tool that collects a lot of data, not only on the presence of school officers, but also on how they impact school equity.

I urge my colleagues to stand in defense of the Civil Rights Data Collection. That is the Civil Rights Data Collection which collects data on equity in education, data such as access to advanced placement courses, data on suspensions, data on access to pre-K and other questions of access and equity, and would call on the Trump administration to affirm its intent to maintain the integrity of that collection.

Mr. Speaker, I also urge my colleagues to stand with students and parents in defense of civil rights under the guise of school safety. The Trump administration has signaled its intent to revoke the Education-Justice discipline guidance that provides districts with the tools to address racial disparities in discipline in a way that would not jeopardize school safety and ensure that school law enforcement officers are trained to serve in a school setting.

Without a shred of evidence, Secretary DeVos has blamed mass school shootings on civil rights protections and the guidance that clarifies district-level obligations under Federal civil rights law.

I urge my colleagues to join me in calling on President Trump and Secretary DeVos to discontinue their misinformation campaign and maintain the entire so-called rethink discipline package. As districts rush to hire resource officers, this body must commit to maintaining resources that empower districts to do so without negatively impacting equity in education.

Mr. Speaker, I also urge this body to increase investments in education. Teachers and students need access to mental health services, counseling, and evidence-based violence prevention programming. Teachers need comprehensive support, including increased salaries. The conversation on school safety that speaks only to hardening of the schools and hiring law enforcement officers will harm far more people than it will protect.

Lastly, I urge this body to consider and pass commonsense gun safety legislation. Gun violence in and outside of the school is a public health epidemic that merits bold and bipartisan congressional support. Meanwhile, this bill does provide for the collection of data and the hiring of police officers in our schools. This information can be helpful as we decide how to best allocate resources to address school safety.

Mr. Speaker, I therefore support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for introducing this bill. I urge my colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5242) to require the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education to conduct a survey of all public schools to determine the number of school resource officers at such schools, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5242.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5242, the School Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018. As we focus on our work in this Chamber this afternoon, it is fitting that we recognize that it is, as my colleagues have so far pointed out, National Police Week.

One of my great privileges as a Member of Congress is to interact with members of the law enforcement community and see firsthand the selflessness and true sense of service that they bring to their work.

Any one of us might say we want to protect and serve our communities, but it is these fine men and women who walk the walk every day. Their tireless efforts to improve public safety and build relationships across communities and with all of their fellow citizens deserve our appreciation and our total support and respect.

One of the best ways we as legislators can support members of the law enforcement community is by using data and not emotion as the basis of the decisions we make here in Washington that impact the way local law enforcement officials have to do their jobs.

H.R. 5242, the School Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018, seeks to improve our decisions by providing better data on the work of law enforcement in schools.

The research and evidence that comes from the appropriate use of data can improve our understanding of how these policies work and the best ways to support the efforts of community leaders across our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I commend the tireless sacrifices made by those in the law enforcement community and their families especially, and I thank them for their service. I simply urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for supporting the bill.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins), my friend, for introducing this bill. I am bringing it forward as an opportunity to support safer communities and those who take on the responsibility and make the sacrifices to make our schools safer.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Higgins for his service not just to this institution and to his constituents, but to the citizens of this country he protected as a military police officer, as well as those in Louisiana, where he served as local law enforcement. Like all of the men and women we honor for National Police Week this week, our colleague from Louisiana has ``walked the walk'' and it is an honor to serve with him.

Mr. Speaker, I simply urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 5242, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5242, the School Resource Officer Assessment Act of 2018, as amended. I am the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, so far, in 2018, there have been 21 school shootings that have resulted in injuries or loss of life. While it is impossible for us to anticipate every attempt and impossible to enact regulations that would prevent them, one thing we can do is to ensure that honorable, patriotic, public servants are available to guard our schools, students, and teachers against acts of violence. Considering the recent string of school shootings, it has become clear that increasing the use of school resource officers should play a major role in protecting our schools.

Currently, there are 95,230 public schools in the United States. Our research has clarified that hard data does not exist regarding law enforcement assets at these schools. We estimate--and we can only estimate--that there may be a 30 percent utilization of school resource officers across the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, the first step in promoting school safety is evaluating what SRO assets we have on the ground and how public schools are using them. After we have a clear understanding of the field, we in Congress will be able to more effectively direct resources to where they are most needed. That is why I have introduced this bill.

My bill would simply give Congress the information we need to make effective decisions regarding school safety by requiring the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Secretary of Education to gather data regarding the number and status of school resource officers assigned to each public school in the United States.

My bill is a commonsense, information-gathering bill that has bipartisan support and has been endorsed by the National Association of School Resource Officers. This legislation is the first piece of several initiatives I will be introducing and supporting to secure our schools.

I would like to thank Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott, who are on the Education and the Workforce Committee, and their staffs for their help in getting this bill to the floor. I would also like to thank the cosponsors of my bill, in particular, Representative Ruppersberger, for his help in this process.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this commonsense legislation.