By Last year, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 3, a law that requires school districts to implement additional security measures to keep children safe.
Under HB 3, school districts must:
- Employ or designate an armed security officer for each campus and employ an officer who has completed an active response training program at each campus.
- Inform authorities about their multi-hazard emergency operations plan (EOP) to ensure they complied with standards.
- Give an up-to-date map of school campuses to the Texas Department of Public Safety or first responders to ensure authorities have the information they need to act.
- Train employees to help them recognize and support children and youth experiencing mental health or substance issues.
HISD conducted a safety audit and identified several campuses that could be improved to comply with state law and safety standards. The district proposed a $4.4 billion bond, which would allocate $380 million for security enhancements and upgrades at 263 campuses to meet state law requirements. With the bond, HISD would enhance security infrastructure and technology and build secure single-point-of-entry checkpoints to control access to schools.
Should the bond pass, HISD would allocate $1.04 billion to its “Safe and Healthy Campuses” investment category for campus security, HVAC upgrades, and other health and safety improvements.
Many HISD buildings were built before lead standards were enacted, and some campuses may require attention and remediation to which $150 million of the bond funds are allocated. The district would also use $508 million of the bond funds to improve and update 188 HVAC systems and ensure schools meet environmental standards.
The bond proposal includes no projected tax increase.
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