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.
Florida’s Republican-controlled appropriations committee has approved a $67 million “school marshal” program to give 10 teachers per school 132 hours of training to carry guns, and give armed teachers $500 bonuses: https://t.co/6ZmmCYIP79 pic.twitter.com/Mub8hfvKbE
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 28, 2018
The bill also calls for an additional $400 million to “put a school resource officer in every school, improve mental health counseling and make public school buildings safer,” Tampa reports. Senator Kelli Stargel, D-Lakeland, says, “We don’t have the manpower to staff the schools with the resource officers without the marshal program.” The 18 to 11 vote, with 18 Republicans voting no and 10 Democrats and one Republican yes, comes just days after the panel rejected the proposal to ban a variety of semi-automatic rifles.
“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.