Friends and neighbors,

When I first ran for the Minnesota State Senate, I was nine months pregnant with my first son. I ran to be a voice for the most vulnerable members of our society and make sure I was contributing to a government that put children over politics. 

Due to a change in Minnesota’s school discipline law, dozens of police departments announced the removal of their school resource officers (SROs). Even though the attorney general released a second opinion to allay their concerns, some police departments will not return to schools until the law itself is changed.

As the Republican Lead on the Senate Education Policy Committee, I raised alarms this would be an issue. These changes were rammed through without talking to law enforcement or the cities who hire them, and these stakeholders were left with unworkable language and layers of conflicting legal opinions. Democrats refuse to acknowledge this was a mistake, and our students are paying the price. 

SROs are essential to the safety of our schools, and they deserve the necessary clarity to do their jobs effectively. I recently joined a group of Republican legislators to hear from teachers, school officials, and law enforcement officials about the negative effects of the new SRO law. They were plain the confusion around the law remains and the opinion from the Attorney General was not enough to clear up the questions at hand. That’s why I’m asking our Governor to call for a special session. 

Today, many schools are still operating without SROs, and for those SROs in schools, they are working with an added question mark over their shoulder. This is affecting students in our area. We had an incident where a student was exhibiting dangerous behavior right in our community. However, they had not physically assaulted anybody, so the SRO was unable to safely take steps to end the situation. This led to the school being on a soft lockdown, disrupting our students’ ability to learn, and causing fear and anxiety throughout the student body.

Without this much-needed clarification and a resolution, I don’t know how our students or teachers are supposed to feel safe in their classrooms. We aren’t back in session until February, so what are students supposed to do in the meantime? 

To ensure the safety of our schools, the statutes must be clarified so law enforcement and school officials can have full confidence in how to operate within the law.  

When I hear about these incidents, when I see videos of students being assaulted in schools, I don’t know how the mothers and fathers on the other side of the aisle can’t put partisan politics aside and call for a special session. I’m particularly appalled by the Democrat members who wrote a letter to the governor saying they don’t want a special session on this topic. Indeed, many of those Democrats opposed SROs in any case.

As leaders we can either dig in our heels and insist we are right. Or we can listen to the experts–our law enforcement officers, school officials, parents, and teachers–and call for a special session. 

I am urging my colleagues across the aisle to join us in finding a bipartisan, commonsense solution putting our kids first.  We must not jeopardize the safety of our most precious assets by waiting until February.

Sincerely,

Julia