Since the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, lawmakers have not yet held a special session. But, they have agreed to spend $100 million on school safety.
The money, coming from the Texas Education Agency’s budget surplus, will go toward resources Uvalde CISD already had when the shooting took place on May 24.
The biggest chunk, $50 million, is going toward bullet-resistant shields for school police officers.
According to the DPS’s condensed timeline of the shooting inside Robb Elementary, police arrived with ballistic shields about 30 minutes after the gunman was inside. At least four ballistic shields were inside within the hour, but video surveillance shows police didn’t use them.
Another $17 million is going toward so-called silent panic alert technology for schools.
Uvalde CISD had something similar, called “raptor.”
The report states that an alert was sent at the time of the shooting, but not all staff got it right away.
According to the report documents, the wi-fi in the school was spotty and people were used to getting a lot of alerts, as there were frequent police chases in the area.
As a result, the report states, many teachers didn’t realize the threat was serious.
Listed below are where more of the funds will be located:
- $10 million was added for law enforcement to increase rapid response training
- $7 million is for campus safety assessments
- $6 million will expand telemedicine for children
- $6 million will expand DPS research
- $5 million will be added to a program treating at-risk youth