House Approves School Safety Proposal

Liz Gullett

May 11, 2018

This week, the Michigan House of Representatives approved a plan that aims to improve school safety statewide. “In recent months, the desire to take a hard look at where safety upgrades can occur in schools has been a top priority for Michigan leaders. This is a great example of Democrats and Republicans working together to achieve one of their stated goals,” said Tony Des Chenes of MLC. One aspect of the proposal creates a commission that would develop a system to audit safety procedures in schools. Grants to improve security would be distributed with priority going to schools with the greatest need. Additionally, each school district would have a liaison who would report to and work with the commission.

Additional details of the proposal include:

Require schools to submit incident reports to the statewide school safety commission
Require new school construction or major renovation projects to include safety features such as reinforced entryways and remote door locks
Remove the sunset on the OK2SAY school safety program, which allows confidential reporting of tips on potentially harmful or criminal activity directed at students, school employees, or school buildings
Mandate consistent, standardized training related to school violence incidents as part of the requirements to be a licensed law enforcement officer

The package of six bills has been referred to the Senate Education Committee for further consideration.

Michigan Legislative Consultants is a bipartisan lobbying firm based in Lansing, Michigan. Our team of lobbyists and procurement specialists provide a wide range of services for some of the most respected companies in America. For more on MLC, visit www.mlcmi.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.