This week, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., held a roundtable in Tampa with Florida sheriffs and school safety leaders to discuss his “School Guardian Act.”
This bill, introduced by Scott following the recent school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, would create a block grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice supporting the hiring of one or more law enforcement officers to provide full-time security at every K-12 school in the country, including all public, private and religious schools.
Scott’s proposal has been endorsed by Stand With Parkland, the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, the National Association of School Resource Officers, and the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association.
“It was great to be in Tampa today to discuss the School Guardian Act with law enforcement and education leaders. I hear from Floridians every day about things they wish our federal government would do better. Overwhelmingly, the folks I talk to believe that instead of spending $70 billion to create an army of 87,000 IRS agents, we ought to be doing the commonsense work of keeping our kids safe by putting an armed law enforcement officer in every K-12 school. Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, five years ago, we worked hard to make significant changes and establish measures to increase law enforcement in schools. Now, it’s time to expand the good work we did in Florida to every school, public, private and religious, all across America,” Scott said.
