School safety and security.

WORKING DRAFT
2013
STATE OF
WYOMING
13LSO-0453.E1

HOUSE BILL
NO.
HB0230

School safety and security.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s) Winters, Byrd, Freeman, Gingery and Harshman and Senator(s) Anderson, J.D. (SD02), Dockstader and Hicks

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to
school safety and security;
establishing supplemental financial
assistance available to school districts for school resource officers for protection and safety of schools; specifying eligibility for and distribution of assistance and
granting rulemaking authority for program administration
;
establishing a task force through the department of education addressing school safety and security planning;
providing appropriations;
and providing for
an
effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.

(a)

For school year 2013
‑
2014, s
upplemental financial assistance
shall be made available to school districts to
acquire school resource officers for enhancing the
protection and safety of students, faculty and staff attending or employed within the schools of the district
.

(b)

Each school district may apply to the department of education for financial assistance under this section on or before
July
1
, 2013
on a form and in a manner prescribed by the department
.
Assistance shall be based upon prior school year attendance
reports
.
Application review
shall be in accordance with
a
process established by department rule and regulation
which a
t minimum, shall
require
documentation of the following:

(i)

T
he district
's
safety and security plan, identifying how the district would deploy
supplemental assistance under this section
and describing the impact of the program on school operations;

(ii)

Assurance that the district would restrict
expenditure
s
of
supplemental assistance to the
costs of employing school resource officers

and not
expend assistance
for safety and security equipment and other related capital outlays;

(i
ii
)

A
report
of
any federal funds available to the applicant district for the costs of employing school resource officers
or
security aid
e
s

within its schools.

(c)

On or before
August
1, 2013, t
he department shall notify each district of its eligibility to
receive financial assistance
, together with an estimat
e of the amount

of assistance
the
eligible
district
would receive during

school year 2013
‑
2014.
The department shall distribute assistance
under this section
to each eligible district on or before
October
15
, 2013
.

(d)

Financial assistance under this section shall be based upon prior year
a
ttendance reports submitted by each eligible school district pursuant to W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)(iv).
The amount of assistance
shall be computed by the department for the eligible applicant district as if the education resource block grant model contained
a component for school resource o
fficers
generating

one (1) FTE p
osition for a
total
district
ADM of one thousand (1,000) or
less
, and one (1)
additional
FTE position for each additional one thousand (1,000)
district
ADM
thereafter. The FTE positions shall be
funded a
t
a salary
equal to forty-nine thousand five hundred dollars ($49,500.00) per
school
year, adjusted for regional cost differences as determined for each district under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(m)
(v
)(C)
, but not adjusted for any other compensation-related benefit
.
The amount received under this subsection shall also be reduced by all federal funds received by the school district for the purpose of funding salaries for school resource officers.

Each full-time equivalent position
generated
under this
subsection above the first FTE
shall be prorated up and down from the specified FTE position level specified for each
district
similar to computational operation of other components within the block grant model
.
"FTE" and "ADM" as used in this section shall be as defined in ATTACHMENT "A", as referenced in W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
101(a)(xvii).

(e)

Financial assistance to each qualifying applicant school district shall be made by the department from amounts appropriated by the legislature
from
the foundation program account for purposes of the program established by this section and shall be in addition to the foundation program amount computed for that district under W.S. 21
‑
13
‑
309(p). If there is an insufficient amount within the
school
foundation program account from amounts appropriated by the legislature for financial assistance under this section, the department shall make a pro rata reduction in financial assistance payments among all qualifying districts. District expenditures of amounts distributed under this section shall be solely for
district security resource officers
in accordance with the
safety and security plan
submitted by the district under subsection (b) of this section. The department may withhold
or request repayment of
a portion or the entire amount to be distributed to any district under this section for noncompliance with program documentation required to be submitted by the applicant district. Any appropriated amounts not expended or encumbered under this section as of July 1
, 2014
,
including any amounts distributed to districts which are not spent by July 1, 2014,
shall revert to the foundation program account.

(f)

Each district shall report to the department of education on expenditures of amounts distributed under this section together with additional information required by the department on
use of school resource officers and an evaluation of the impact of these officers on the effectiveness of the district's school safety and
security
programs as documented by data.
The department shall compile the information reported by districts under this subsection and
on or before October 1, 2014,
report the compilation to the joint education interim committee.
In addition and not later than December 31, 2013, the department shall provide recommendations to the committee
on future program structure and funding.

Section 2.

For the school year commencing July 1, 2013, and
ending
June 30, 2014
,
two
million
three
hundred thousand
dollars ($
2
,
3
00,000.00) is appropriated from the school foundation program account to the department of education
to fund the safety and security supplemental assistance program created under and subject to requirements specified
under
section 1 of this act.

Section 3.

(a)

The governor's office shall appoint a task force comprised of representatives of a variety of agencies including school district personnel, department of education employees, local fire and law enforcement, department of health, department of homeland security and school facilities department to develop guidelines and protocols for the safety and security of students and staff within school buildings. The task force shall provide common components of school safety and security plans which include but are not limited to:

(i)

Identification of building crisis teams and provision of continual plan updating, including regular and periodic testing and scheduled safety drills;

(ii)

Establishment of evacuation routes, on-site safe areas within the building, off-site shelters, communication methods and protocols, identification of and access to supplies and equipment to assist staff in a crisis and identification and location of school plans, facility information and keys;

(iii)

Mechanisms for fully informing teachers and staff of student risk behaviors that directly affect school safety and security;

(iv)

Training programs for teachers and staff on the school safety and security plan and the reporting of unusual behavior to school leaders and proper authorities for each school building;

(v)

Training programs for teachers and staff on positive and proactive actions necessary to address students displaying risky behavior and techniques for meeting with parents regarding risky behavior and building positive school environments;

(vi)

Protocols and actions for maintaining control of building access during the time schools are in operation;

(vii)

Mechanisms and procedures for the conduct of periodic safety and security audits in consultation with school resource officers and law enforcement agencies.

(b)

The task force appointed under subsection (a) of this section shall assemble recommendations in sufficient time for use by the department of education in conducting workshops and other programs during school year 2013
‑
2014 pertaining to school district safety and security planning and other activities.

(c)

There is appropriated thirty thousand dollars
($30,000.00)
from the general fund to the governor's office. This appropriation shall be for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2014. This appropriation shall only be expended for the purpose of funding
mileage authorized for
task force
members who are not state employees. Task force members shall be entitled to receive mileage at the rate authorized state employees in W.S. 9
‑
3
‑
103.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on June 30, 2014. This appropriation shall not be included in the office's 2015-
2
0
1
6 standard biennial budget request.

Section

4
.

T
his act is
effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

1
HB0230