Senate Bill 700 (“Bill”), signed into law on July 11, 2024, is an omnibus bill that makes several amendments to the Pennsylvania Public School Code (“Code”). One such amendment requires Pennsylvania school districts to have at least one full-time school security personnel on duty during each school day. The Code establishes and defines three categories of school security personnel, including school police officers, school resource officers, and school security guards. The Bill is immediately effective, so these requirements will be in place for the upcoming school year.
School security personnel are not required to be armed as the Code allows the requirements imposed by the Bill to be satisfied by unarmed school security. If a school district elects to have armed school security guards, any armed school security guard that is not a law enforcement officer may need to undergo additional training and satisfy certain conditions before carrying a weapon. There appears to be some public confusion regarding this issue, with several sources indicating that all school security personnel must be armed. The Bill was derived from a previous bill that would have required school districts to have armed school security personnel; however, this language was omitted from the final version of the Bill. While this may be subject to change following clarifying regulations, there is currently no explicit requirement for school security personnel to be armed.
The Bill requires that school districts have at least one full-time school security personnel on duty during each school day; however, this language may still leave some ambiguity. A school day is defined as the opening of a school building until the afternoon dismissal when classes are dismissed. With the definition of a school day tied to an individual school building, it is possible that authorities interpreting the Bill may require at least one school security personnel at each building. Currently, a school district should plan to employ at least one school security personnel districtwide; however, this may be subject to change following clarifying regulations.
The Bill establishes a $100 million fund to provide school safety and mental health grants to provide for the hiring of school security personnel, among other things. An additional $20.7 million has been allocated specifically to fund school safety and security initiatives, including hiring and training of school security personnel. School districts may apply for individual grants of $100,000 under the school safety and mental health fund. The Bill also separately provides for the reimbursement of costs associated with the hiring and training of one school security personnel up to $50,000.
While the new school security requirements may result in significant expense, the Bill does establish a simple and broad waiver process for school districts that are unable to satisfy the requirements. A waiver shall be granted to any school district that, in good faith, provides documentation evidencing that such school district was unable to hire or contract with any school security personnel and that there is no municipal police department or law enforcement agency able to provide school security personnel.
The Bill does not establish specific penalties for school districts that fail to hire school security personnel. Moving forward, school districts should focus on demonstrating compliance with the new law by developing and approving a job description, posting the position, seeking proposals to implement a contracted service, and/or pursuing a waiver.
Please contact your Solicitor or a member of the Stock and Leader School Law Practice Group if you have any questions.