The bill, which may soon be put to a vote in the Ohio House, will put voters in every school district to decide whether or not to have a school resource officer.
Bill 501 seeks to change Ohio’s law, which the bill’s authors say does not define “safety and security at school,” although it does include mental health services. training of safety personnel and safety personnel.
School resource officers, who are typically certified law enforcement officers used by agreement with the police officer or sheriff’s department, will be included in the “security personnel” section of Ohio law under the new bill.
If the bill is passed, it will leave safety and security at school a definition for voters by allowing school boards to levy a property tax “for specific purposes of providing SRO services, not for security in general,” according to an analysis of the bill by the Legislative Service Commission.
Under the bill, municipalities and towns will also be able to levy property taxes “for specific purposes of financing SRO services for school districts located in their territory,” according to LSK.
The bill took place on Tuesday in the third hearing in the House Committee on Issues and Means, without testimony and changes to the SRO bill. State Committee spokesman Derrick Maryn said the bill could be voted on at the committee’s next meeting.
This story was originally published in Ohio Capital Journal and reprinted here with permission.
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