Saint Paul, MN —The Minnesota House of Representatives on Monday approved a bill to improve school safety after a change in law last year resulted in school resource officers (SROs) to be removed from many schools throughout the state. State Representative Brian Daniels, R-Faribault, issued the following statement reacting to Monday’s vote:
“Dozens of school districts across Minnesota have been left without School Resource Officers because of a change in law last year,” said Daniels. “This has not only put these schools at risk, but it has also delayed important relationship building between SROs and students that would have otherwise been taking place. I am pleased that Democrats finally swallowed their pride, admitted they were wrong, and worked with us to get this done, even though they dragged their feet for months before doing so.”
The issue traces back to an omnibus education bill (HF 2497) Democrats enacted in 2023 that imposed prohibitions on the use of force in schools, banning certain physical holds by “an employee or agent of a district, including a school resource officer, security personnel, or police officer contracted with a district."
Language in the new measure provides updates which exclude SROs as employees or agents of a school district, exclude SROs from the prohibitions on prone restraints and physical holds; revise the “reasonable force standard” and mandate school districts and charter schools use only trained SROs and establishes new training and model policy requirements for law enforcement.
The House approved the bill 124-8 and it now awaits action in the Senate.
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