While students have been building a powerful and inspiring movement to end gun violence in schools, PA lawmakers have been laying the groundwork to vote on legislation that would militarize school buildings and allow teachers to carry concealed weapons.

Click HERE to tell PA lawmakers to arm our schools with resources, not guns.

In recent weeks, state lawmakers have introduced more than 20 bills focused on school safety. These include requiring metal detectors and armed officers in every school, allowing teachers and school staff to carry concealed weapons, and requiring bullying education and mental health screenings.

In upcoming weeks, state lawmakers will decide which bills they will support and how much money they will allocate to school safety initiatives. It is critical that lawmakers hear from their constituents NOW, so that they can take into account the priorities of voters in their districts when making these critical decisions.

Please click here and take two minutes to tell your state lawmakers to arm our schools with resources, not guns.

Tell your lawmakers to:

• Reject Senate Bill 383 –and any similar legislation – that would allow school personnel to carry concealed weapons in schools.Arming lunch ladies and geometry teachers will not make our children’s schools safer. Instead, the presence of guns in schools will dramatically raise the odds that students will be accidentally injured or killed.
• Increase funding for school safety grants and remove the requirement that 60% of grant funding be set aside for school resource offices and police to ensure flexibility for school districts to use funding to best meet their needs.
• Mandate that security personnel in schools undergo training so that they are qualified to deal with the mental health, trauma-related, and special education-related issues that students experience. Nineteen states – including New York, New Jersey, and Delaware – mandate youth-specific training for school resource officers. Current PA law requires none.
• Provide adequate Basic Education Funding to PA schools so that districts have the resources they need to pay for additional school counselors, social workers, school psychologists, and nurses, who can identify warning sign that students may be struggling and provide the supports necessary to keep students from falling through the cracks.

School safety extends beyond militarized buildings to include addressing the emotional and psychological safety of students and the root causes of violence. For years lawmakers have skimped on school safety by refusing to provide adequate funding to school districts. They have left schools without the resources they need to pay for more school counselors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers who can help prevent violent incidents from occurring in the first place by identifying warning signs that students may be struggling and providing the supports students need to keep them from falling through the cracks.

We can’t afford for lawmakers to continue to be all talk and no funding when it comes to keeping students safe at school. Improving school safety will require multifaceted approaches that will vary based on school districts’ needs. If lawmakers are serious about improving student safety, it is time for them to get serious about providing significant recurring funding that will allow school districts to create safe and healthy learning environments for our children.  We need lawmakers to arm our schools with resources, not guns.

Please click HERE to contact your state lawmakers today.