Sen Rick Scott details bill to fund armed officers in US schools

Florida Senator Rick Scott introduced legislation on Tuesday that would reroute the billions of dollars earmarked for the Internal Revenue Service in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to hire armed officers at schools across the country.

The School Guardian Act would create a block grant program administered by the Justice Department which would give K-12 schools access to funds to hire full-time security. Scott, a Republican, said the legislation was needed in response to mass shootings at schools in Parkland, Florida, and more recently in Nashville, Tennessee. 

His bill would establish a national program similar to a state program enacted during his time as governor of Florida that helped schools hire armed resource officers. 

“Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, five years ago, we worked hard to make significant changes and establish measures to increase law enforcement in schools. Thanks to this work, and the landmark legislation we passed, every public school in Florida has an armed police officer, sheriff’s deputy, or an individual who has completed the rigorous training to keep our students safe from harm,” Scott said in a statement.

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He added, “The recent shooting of innocent children and educators in Nashville showed us that we need to do better to keep our schools safe, and that starts by bringing effective ideas like our Guardian Program to every school across our nation. These brave individuals are willing and able to step up and protect our kids and teachers from those who wish to do them harm.”

Scott outlined his legislation last month, following the mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Tennessee, in which a 28-year-old former student opened fire and killed three 9-year-old children and three teachers before being shot dead by police. 

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The proposed block grant program would be funded by clawing back unspent dollars from Congress’ $80 billion appropriation for the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The national program would be administered by the U.S. Attorney General. Funding would be given to each state, and then the state’s chief law enforcement agency would administer the funds to schools that need armed officers.

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Scott’s program would be open to all K-12 schools, both public and private, and states would be required to send any unused funding from the block grants back to DOJ. 

The bill also includes reporting requirements so that Congress may conduct oversight of how the block grant funds are spent.

“Instead of spending billions of dollars to expand the IRS to go after American taxpayers, Washington can send a powerful message to parents about our true priorities by dedicating these funds to the School Guardian Act to provide block grants to states so they can increase school security at every school and keep kids safe,” said Scott. “I hope my colleagues agree and support its quick passage.”

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.