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Culture > News

Florida’s House Appropriation Committee Voted ‘Yes’ On A $67 Million-Dollar Proposal To Arm Teachers Statewide

In a vote that came to the disappointment of Parkland relatives, friends and classmates of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victims, Florida’s House Appropriation’s Committee has decided on Tuesday to create a statewide program to arm teachers, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The $67 million-dollar effort, referred to as the “school marshal” program, entails 10 “marshals” (teachers) trained to carry a gun in every school statewide (amounting to 37,000 teachers), background checks, drug testing, psychological exams and 132 hours of training, Tampa reports. José Oliva, a Republican representative, calls these teachers “the last line of defense.” According to Oliva, it’s unclear from the bill whether the teachers would be provided guns or if they would need to buy them, however, there is room in the bill for a $500 stipend to any teacher that volunteers to carry a gun. 

“It could easily cause additional chaos and fatalities,” Linda Beigel Schulman told legislatures in the hearing room in Tallahassee on Tuesday. Schulman said she believes that, through all the chaos of a school shooting, a teacher could accidentally be shot by law enforcement, Tampa reports. Additionally, Schulman says her son became a teacher to teach, “not to be a law enforcement officer,” her voice breaking. 

WLRN.com reports that although the bill has been voted on by the panel, it still needs the approval of the full House and Senate, and the signature of Governor Rick Scott.

Amanda graduated from Carthage College with a Bachelor's degree in both Communications and Public Relations. She also proudly served as the Editor in Chief of her college's Her Campus chapter, and as a Her Campus Editorial Intern. She is from Chicago, Illinois, which she can confirm is indeed a windy city. Today she can still be found furiously tapping away at her laptop keys and producing content for the internet. In her spare time she enjoys reading books (before watching their Netflix or movie adaptions), running for fun (yes, it can be fun) and spending time with her friends and family.