HARRISBURG – Every school district across the commonwealth will have an armed school security officer thanks to the passage of legislation sponsored by Sen. Mike Regan (R-31).
“This has been a 12-year process to get this important initiative across the finish line,” Regan said. “I am pleased that my colleagues this session recognized the value and necessity of having armed school security personnel in each of our schools.”
Regan’s first legislative proposal when he was a member of the House of Representatives was to require an armed officer in every school building in Pennsylvania. This was prompted by hearing the news of the Sandy Hook shooting just hours after he had welcomed a group of fourth graders to the Capitol at the end of 2012, before he was even sworn into office.
“I knew in that moment that with my background and experience in securing federal courthouses as a U.S. Marshal, I could offer a plan to protect our schools in Pennsylvania,” Regan said.
School security has been a top priority for Regan since then, and he has been a leader working with his caucus, including Sen. Wayne Langerholc (R-35), a former assistant district attorney in Cambria County, to establish the School Safety and Security Committee at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) and the School Safety and Security Grants Program.
“I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve for our schools to better protect students and staff,” Regan said. “But until now, there has been a major piece missing and that has been uniformity across the commonwealth with having armed security at our schools.”
Regan’s legislation, Senate Bill 907, was amended into Senate Bill 700, an omnibus School Code bill that was passed as part of the budget. The school security personnel component requires each school entity – defined as a school district, an intermediate unit, an area career and technical school, a charter school or a private residential rehabilitative institution – to have one full-time, trained school security personnel, defined as school resource officers, school police officers, and school security guards. Additional funding is also being made available to assist schools with the hiring of an armed officer.
“As I prepare to bid farewell to my service in the Legislature, it gives me great pride to see this particular issue come to fruition,” said Regan. “My first piece of legislation is also one of my last, and I owe a great deal of gratitude to Senate leadership and my colleagues for their confidence in me on this issue and for their support for the bill.”
CONTACT: Bruce McLanahan
717-787-8524