Sponsors (2)
The bill expands federal support and hiring pathways to place experienced (often veteran) officers in schools and funds training and screening to improve preparedness, but does so by increasing policing in schools, shifting funding and staff time toward law-enforcement roles, and raising equity and civil‑liberties concerns for students—especially marginalized communities.
Veterans and retired law-enforcement officers are connected to school resource officer (SRO) jobs through prioritized COPS grants and VA placement efforts, increasing employment pathways and expanding the pool of experienced applicants for schools.
Students and school staff gain safer, better-prepared SROs because the bill requires annual mental-health screenings and tactics-and-response training for SROs and makes federal technical assistance available to support implementation.
Schools and local governments can access federal COPS grant priorities and DOJ technical assistance to staff SROs, giving districts federal funding flexibility and reducing the need to draw immediate local budget resources for SRO staffing and program setup.
Students—particularly racial and ethnic minority students—face increased policing and a higher risk of criminalization and disciplinary disparities as SRO presence and hiring in schools expands.
Students and schools may lose access to non-law-enforcement supports (e.g., counselors, mental-health and violence-prevention programs) because federal funds and grant priorities are directed toward hiring SROs instead.
Mandated officer contact and placing more veterans in SRO roles may increase surveillance, discomfort, and perceptions of militarized policing among students and families—especially in communities with strained police relationships.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Allows COPS grants to fund hiring veterans/retired officers as school resource officers, gives those proposals preferential review, funds annual SRO mental-health screening and tactics training support, and directs VA to connect veterans with SRO roles.
Introduced April 8, 2025 by Jefferson Van Drew · Last progress April 8, 2025
Allows Department of Justice COPS Office grant recipients to use grant funds to hire veterans and retired law enforcement officers as school resource officers (SROs) and gives grant applications proposing that hiring preferential consideration. Directs DOJ to use existing technical-assistance funds to help deliver annual mental-health screenings and annual tactics-and-response training for SROs, requires SROs to meet with students at least annually to build familiarity, and directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to connect veterans who want to serve as SROs with participating local law enforcement agencies.