Panel backs bill expanding school resource officers' reach

Lawmakers and people on state business mingle around the entrance to the House chamber Tuesday before the start of House proceedings for the day.
Lawmakers and people on state business mingle around the entrance to the House chamber Tuesday before the start of House proceedings for the day.

An Arkansas legislative committee Tuesday passed bills to increase the jurisdiction of school resource officers and to allow public dollars to fund private-school scholarships for children with severe disabilities.

The House Education Committee passed House Bill 1583, by Rep. Bill Gossage, R-Ozark, in a 10-2 roll-call vote. The bill would allow school resource officers to issue citations outside of their law enforcement jurisdiction if they were accompanying students on a field trip or outside of the school district boundaries.

The committee also advanced HB1552, by Rep. Doug House, R-North Little Rock, which creates a scholarship program for children that have severe learning or mental disabilities. The scholarships would be paid for through public funds but could be used to send those students to private schools that were better equipped to handle their individual learning needs.

Both bills will make their way to the floor of the Arkansas House of Representatives today.

Gossage said Tuesday that several school districts approached him about running the bill. He said the bill will not increase the scope of power school resource officers have but will increase their jurisdiction.

"School resource officers work at the school, but they are actually employed by the city or county," he said. "They are often asked to travel with a group from their school district across the state, and many times in those travels things happen. And since they've traveled outside their jurisdiction, they do not have the ability to issue a citation while traveling with whatever group they're traveling with."

Gossage said right now, if a resource officer travels on a school field trip and an incident happens on the bus that would merit a citation, the officer has to stop the bus, call the local police or sheriff's office and wait for an officer with jurisdiction to come and issue a citation. Under the bill, the citation in an outside jurisdiction would have to be taken care of in the circuit or district court where the citation was issued.

Several representatives raised concerns about the seeming increase in power for school resource officers.

"I'm totally uncomfortable with police officers having that kind of power with kids," said Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock.

"Are you aware that in Pulaski County, especially in the schools in Maumelle, Jacksonville and Sherwood, they use their police authority to arrest children and put them in the judicial system for things as little as fights, to the chagrin of the judges who have to hear such things? And they are basically black boys."

Gossage said he had not heard of that concern but said if it was specific to a school district, then Walker should raise the issue with that district's board of education. Walker quickly replied that because of the recent takeover of the Little Rock School District by the state, there was no school board.

The committee passed HB1552 in a voice vote Tuesday after almost an hour of discussion.

Under the legislation, the parent or guardian of a public-school student can apply for the scholarship if the student has an individualized education plan under federal guidelines for students with disabilities and the student has been accepted into a private school eligible to participate in the scholarship program.

"For some children, a classroom setting may be totally out of the question. And under those circumstances, the parents may decide at that point to move their child out of that public-school setting and into a private school for their learning program," House said.

Several parents testified that their children have not been able to receive the kinds of services they need in a public-school setting -- some because they tested at too high of a functioning level to qualify for special programs but too low to be placed in a regular classroom.

Legislators raised concerns over whether the scholarship program was the appropriate use of public funds or whether parents were the appropriate people to make the decision on whether the public school district was able to handle their child's learning needs.

"Sometimes, grown people make decisions that negatively affect their children," Rep. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, said. "When we say now the only trigger is the parent making a choice ... that concerns me."

Despite the concerns, there was no opposition during the voice vote.

If the bill is approved, the annual amount of the scholarship would be equal to the per-student foundation funding approved in the Arkansas Legislature's biennial educational adequacy study. The Legislature is currently considering legislation that would increase the foundation funding amount for the 2015-16 school year to $6,584 per student and for the 2016-17 school year to $6,646 per student.

In return for the scholarship, the parent would sign a waiver releasing the public school district from any responsibility for the student. The bill specifies that the scholarship would not use school district tax funding or public-school funds.

Metro on 03/25/2015

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