Indiana Capital Chronicle
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana House on Tuesday passed a bill providing state funding to train teachers who carry guns in classrooms after an emotional debate.
School districts can already authorize the arming of teachers, but there isn’t a specific training curriculum — or much money — to go with it.
“This is just a standardized (training) format that the state will pay for,” author Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said on the floor. He’s said the bill is a response to deadly mass shootings at schools across the country.
But Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute — who has taught math for nearly three decades — said she worries the guns could be stolen or used in small disagreements.
“School protection officers have jobs to protect the school, and I appreciate that,” she said on the floor. “They protect, I teach algebra. There’s no reason to switch.”
School corporations can get one matching grant annually from the Indiana Secured School Fund for their security programs. House Bill 1177 would allow an additional grant for specialized firearms instruction.
The measure also would authorize state dollars for counseling services for students, teachers, school staff and employees in the event of a school shooting.
Lucas emphasized that participation would be voluntary for both school districts and individual staff members, and that districts could go above and beyond the proposed state program — as long as they paid for it.
The program would involve 40 hours of training for firearm safety and use, based on the training law enforcement officials currently use.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle covers the Statehouse. For more, visit https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/
