St. Paul, MN – Today, the Minnesota House Republicans attempted to pass “safe school” legislation that takes away critical student mental health support and does nothing to address gun violence in schools.
“Minnesotans are asking for solutions to keep their kids safe at school, not political games,” said Rep. Cheryl Youakim, DFL co-chair of the House Education Finance Committee. “If Republicans are serious about saving lives and keeping kids safe and learning in the classroom, they would work with DFLers to pass a meaningful bill.
“Minnesotans are asking for us to work together to keep our kids safe in school. They’re asking for serious gun violence prevention and firearm safety reform. They’re asking for more mental health support for our kids, not less.”
House Republicans’ bill degrades dedicated funding for crucial student support personnel like school nurses, counselors, social workers, and chemical dependency counselors to pay for school hardening measures. The bill contains no substantive gun violence prevention measures and only merely encourages anonymous reporting in all schools instead of requiring it, which will not change this situation. It also allows for exclusionary discipline or suspensions for Minnesota’s youngest learners, which disproportionately impacts children of color and with disabilities.
“This Republican bill does nothing to address the real danger of unsecured firearms in schools and dissolves funding for counselors, social workers and school nurses.” Rep. Youakim continued. “It wasn’t realistic when it failed on Tuesday in committee, and it’s not a realistic proposal now to keep our students safe. Feels like they’re saving face, with a bill that sounds better than it is.”
House DFLers’ bill makes sure schools adopt safety plans and anonymous threat reporting systems, removes permission granting authority to carry a gun in school and promotes secure storage in school parking lots. DFLers also increase dedicated funding to student support personnel, an extremely important measure in preventing school violence.
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