A group of Legislative Republicans has proposed a bipartisan bill to fix a recent change in law that is causing the removal of Student Resource Officers (SRO) from public schools. The proposed solution includes a request for the Governor to consider a special session to make necessary changes to the law.

“With school just beginning for most students across the state, the timing on this issue could not be more important,” said Senator Andrew Lang (R-Olivia). “Folks expect their kids to be safe at school—they trust that when they drop their kids off, they will make it home safely. Our SROs play an important role in ensuring the safety of every student, teacher, and staff member on campus. It is incredibly troubling to see them being removed from schools across the state, all because of hyper-partisan legislation pushed through by Democrats. This is the latest example of bad policies being pushed on good people. It’s time for Governor Walz to stand up and call a special session to fix this issue.” 

Republicans proposed a bill that simply repeals the recent law change eliminating prone restraints or physical holds and repeals the change to use of force standards to revert back the original language that was in statute. The change does not impact the 2021 bill that banned all neck and chokehold restraints and remains in place for students and all Minnesotans.  

So far, over two dozen police departments have recently announced they are removing SROs, including Willmar. In response to the issue, Republicans held a press conference, which included Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany and Centennial Schools Superintendent Jeff Holmberg who shared their concerns about how this change is impacting safety for students and staff as the school year begins.