KLEIN, Texas – Sept. 1, 2024, marks a year since the implementation of House Bill 3. The state law requires every single school in Texas must have an armed guard on campus unless they file an exception.
“Last year we found a good cause exception, but I’m excited to share with the community that this school year we won’t have to file a good cause exception because we’ve been able to identify the right personnel to meet the program,” said Klein ISD police chief Marlon Runnels. “We’re one of the very few large school districts that will be able to say that.”
House Bill 3 requires districts to put in place several safety upgrades including adding an armed person on every campus. The bill deadline means school districts must comply with the law or file for an exception and come up with another plan to provide security at each of their campuses.
Chief Runnels shared with KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun during an exclusive interview that the board approved a million dollars to hire and train the new campus guards.
Runnels built the program from scratch. He said the guards training are like those of his officers.
“I worked, in partnership with my command staff, to design a very unique and intentional field training program for these campus guards,” said Runnels of the 12-week program. “And what we wanted to do was take many of the concepts and objectives that our Klein police officers have to master in order to serve our, our schools, and kind of scale it down, to be more strategically framed for our elementary campuses.”
One of those new guards is LaTasha Jones. She left her job in Houston, as a code enforcement officer, for the new role.
“At the end of the day, I’m very spiritual, and this is the path God led me,” Jones said.
She starts her day greeting students as they hop off the bus or are dropped off by their parents. Once every student is accounted for, she begins her routine of walking the school perimeter and checking each door.
“The significance of the door check is, as you see, we have children that are in recess right now. Some are at lunch. Some are transitioning into P.E., gym, music,” Jones explained during a tour with Balogun. “We want to ensure that once they’re in and they’re out, the doors are latching on their own for safety. So, we don’t have any issues on campus.”
School boards must vote for exceptions to law
The Texas Education Agency says: A school board may claim an exception to the September 1st law if they lack the funding or available personnel. Districts that ask for an exception must develop an alternative plan that may include a school marshal or other armed staff member.
Filing an exception gives districts more time to figure out what to do. The TEA says: “There is no date written in the statute for when a district must have armed security at each campus. However, a good cause exception is considered to be in compliance with the law.”
KPRC 2 reached out to several school districts in our area trying to understand whether they’ll be able to comply with HB 3. Here’s what we heard back from those who responded:
Alief ISD: Alief ISD will be seeking a good cause exemption.
Alvin ISD: The district has a police officer at every single campus however they do claim a ‘good cause exemption’ on the off chance someone isn’t able to make it to campus or has to leave. It’s something the district spokesperson told KPRC 2 hasn’t happened. “We make every effort to get someone over there and have every time. We haven’t had that situation.”
Cleveland ISD: This is actually something we’ve done since before it was required by law. We have at least one of our officers stationed at each of our campuses at all times.
Cy-Fair ISD: Our Board of Trustees adopted a good cause exemption due to the lack of adequate funding and qualified personnel. We assign two officers full-time to each high school and one officer full-time to each middle school; day patrol officers are assigned to elementary schools by zones.
Fort Bend ISD: We have a security guard at all elementary schools and our own FBISD police officers at middle and high schools.
Galveston ISD: The Galveston ISD Board of Trustees has passed a Good Cause Exception to this HB 3 requirement. GISD employs its own police force and also utilizes guardians to protect campuses.
Humble ISD: Humble ISD has a licensed police officer at every campus. The officers are from the Humble ISD Police Department or from a police department in the area.
Spring Branch ISD: Spring Branch ISD has not fully complied with HB 3 but are quickly moving towards it. We have hired several officers recently, and once their training is complete, they will be placed in schools. We have two dozen more in the background process. The only limitation now is the lack of state funding. We also wanted to note that SBISD spends almost $2 million in additional general funds annually to meet HB3 safety and security requirements that are not funded by the state.
SBISD’s Board of Trustees took action on the Good Cause Exception Resolution and it is in place with the Texas Education Agency. We do not have to renew the Good Cause Exception every year.
Texas City ISD: Yes, we have a contract with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department. We can meet and/or exceed the requirements set forth in HB3.
Waller ISD: We meet these requirements thanks to our incredible partnerships with the Harris County Sherriff’s Office and Waller County Sherriff’s Office.