Texas House speaker pitches spending more than $100 million for mental health, school safety program

[TexasTowelie]

by James Barragán, Texas Tribune


Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan pitched redirecting more than $100 million in state funding to quickly boost mental health and school safety programs before school starts again next fall.

His plan came in response to a $50 million request from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, to immediately purchase bulletproof shields for school police departments. Phelan said he also supported that purchase.

“I believe our respective chambers have the obligation to take immediate, concrete action with the goal of making our schools as safe as possible before the start of the upcoming school year,” Phelan said in a letter to Patrick on Monday. “Your recommendation to dedicate $50 million toward outfitting local school law enforcement with bulletproof shields is a worthwhile goal to that end, and you have my full support in that endeavor.”

The legislative funding requests from the leaders of the Texas House and Senate come as the state is still reeling from the nation’s second deadliest school shooting in history — after an 18-year-old gunman killed 21 people at a Uvalde elementary school last month.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/13/texas-speaker-dade-phelan-uvalde-shooting/