Buss: School safety should be higher spending priority
Kaitlyn BussFriday’s scheduled sentencing of the Oxford High School shooter serves as a grim reminder that Michigan has done very little to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Nearly all Michigan parents are worried about the safety of their kids at school, according to a survey from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Parent’s Council, an advisory body to the Department of Education.
Yet Whitmer and the Democratic-led Legislature has found just 0.7% of this fiscal year’s $21.5 billion school aid budget — the fattest in the state’s history — to allocate directly to assuring the safety of school children.
That’s more than an oversight; it’s a neglect of our duty to the well-being of kids.
All of the other priorities the state is spending on — including school infrastructure, new courses, teacher retention — mean nothing if kids don’t have the mental stability to learn and thrive, much less know they will survive a day of school.
The school aid budget barely touches the specifics, directing just half of $328 million to “activities to improve mental health and improve school safety with the intent that at least half of the funds be spent on mental health,” and another $6 million for schools to purchase tools to help identify behaviors that could require intervention to prevent violence.
This is doubly amazing because Michigan under the current administration won't even come close to considering a step that other states are taking to keep kids safe: arming school personnel or ensuring there is a school resource officer at every school.
In divvying up the record school budget, lawmakers paid off teachers first, leaving safe schools near the bottom of the priority list.
It’s not what parents expect or want.
Schools absolutely need more counselors, particularly as everyone seems to agree the mental health of children took a huge hit during the pandemic, one from which they’ve still not recovered.
But, as a recently released report on the investigation into the Oxford shooting lays painfully bare, more support staff and emergency plans are only part of the equation.
Preventing the next school shooting requires more accountability for schools, more training for their personnel to deal with evolving and active threats, as well as visible reminders of a law enforcement presence.
In the Legislature’s failure to lead on this issue, State Board of Education Trustee Nikki Snyder introduced a resolution in November to require audits of school districts to ensure threat assessment guidelines exist and to ask for legislation mandating threat assessment training for all school employees.
It would also remove liability shields for any personnel who fail to report a potential threat, an issue that has come under scrutiny as a result of the Oxford findings.
The majority-Democrat board voted against even taking up the resolution, arguing it needs more time to research the issues and look into MDE’s capacity to audit and run the program.
Snyder, one of two Republicans on the board, who is also running for the U.S. Senate, is frustrated with the lack of action and urgency on school safety.
It’s “about the requirement of that training,” Snyder said. “Not the suggestion that it’s a fancy thought or a good idea.”
Students, parents and members of the Oxford community, too, remain frustrated their horrific experience hasn’t prompted more change or increased accountability.
"How much more evidence do they need?" asked Steve St. Juliana, father of Oxford victim Hana St. Juliana, in an interview with The Detroit News. "This idea of 'We need more time' is really weak. School shootings have been happening for 20 years and escalating. That's what they said after Oxford and MSU. Are they just going to wait for the next one?"
The report on Oxford shines a light on how prepared teachers, personnel and administrators need to be at all stages of an evolving threat. “Our investigation has revealed that had proper threat assessment guidelines been in place and district threat assessment policy followed, this tragedy was avoidable,” it reads.
It’s a hard reality to accept, especially for the families of the victims. But even worse must be knowing their pain has not yet translated into action that can help save others.