Signed by Governor Andy Beshear

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires all state school districts have armed school resource officers.

Highlights:

• Requires local boards of education, school district superintendents, administrators of state controlled facilities, and local and state law enforcement agencies, to cooperate and assign one or more certified school resource officers to serve each campus where one or more school buildings are used to deliver instruction to students on a continuous basis, as funds and qualified personnel become available (Sec. 3).

• Requires each school resource officer to be armed with a firearm (Sec. 3).

• Defines “school resource officer” or “SRO” as an officer whose primary job function is to work with youth at a school site and who has specialized training to work with youth at a school site (Sec. 1).

• Requires all school resource officers with active school resource officer certification status to successfully complete 40 hours of annual in-service training (Sec. 3).

• Specifies that it must be the goal of each school district and each public charter school to provide at least one school counselor or school-based mental health services provider who is employed by the school district for every 250 students (Sec. 4).

• Requires each local board of education and board of a public charter school to develop a plan for implementing a trauma-informed approach in its schools, including strategies for collaborating with the Department of Kentucky State Police, the local sheriff, and the local chief of police to create procedures for notification of trauma-exposed students (Sec. 4).

• Specifies that a person is guilty of terroristic threatening in the second degree when they intentionally make false statements, including electronic communication, indicating that an act likely to result in death or serious physical injury is occurring or will occur for the purpose of (Sec. 12):

• Causing the evacuation of a school building, school property, or school-sanctioned activity; 

• Causing the cancellation of school classes or school-sanctioned activity; or

• Creating fear of death or serious physical injury among students, parents, or school personnel.

Full Bill Text