Continuing the theme of “repairing” last year’s legislation, the Minnesota Senate today passed a bill to provide clarity on the expectations for School Resource Officers (SROs) and how they operate in schools. This bill comes in response to nearly a year of uncertainty facing law enforcement and SROs after changes proposed by the Governor raised concerns with the school and law enforcement communities.

Last year, the 2023 Education Omnibus Education Bill included language that made SROs “agents” of the school, which created new standards that conflicted with their training and would require an SRO to call in a “patrol officer” to manage many situations. As a result, many SROs were removed from schools and made students less safe. Today’s bill makes changes to give SROs sufficient clarity and support to keep students safe and do their jobs successfully. 

“Legislation passed last year was needlessly ambiguous and impeded our SROs’ ability to effectively do their jobs, which caused many agencies to withdraw SROs from our schools” said Senator Michael Kreun (R-Blaine).“This is something that should have been addressed earlier, but I’m relieved that House and Senate Democrats finally came to the table to work with law enforcement and Republicans on this issue. The safety of our kids is far too important to politicize, and though today’s bill may not offer the perfect solution, it will get SROs back in schools and allow them to do the important work of keeping schools, students, and teachers safe.”