Sponsor
Tony Gonzales
Representative · R-TX
Representative · R-TX
The bill aims to strengthen school security by funding school resource officers, equipment, and DOJ technical assistance for underserved districts, but it shifts resources toward policing with risks of reduced investment in non‑policing supports, increased student criminalization, persistent equity gaps, and added federal costs.
Students, teachers, and school staff may get faster on-site emergency response because grants can fund hiring of school resource officers (SROs) for schools.
Rural and underserved school districts could gain better access to federal safety funding because DOJ technical assistance is intended to help them apply for and implement grants and programs.
Law enforcement assigned to campuses (SROs) will have equipment and vehicles funded by grants, improving their mobility and capacity to respond to incidents on school grounds.
Students and educators may see fewer resources for non‑policing interventions (mental health services, counseling, restorative practices, and training) because grant money can be used to purchase firearms, vehicles, and other policing equipment.
Marginalized students, including racial and ethnic minorities, could face increased criminalization and a worse school climate due to a greater armed-officer presence on campus.
Smaller and under-resourced districts may still struggle to compete for and sustain grants despite DOJ technical assistance, perpetuating inequities in access to school-safety resources.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands DOJ school safety grants to allow hiring/equipping school resource officers and buying vehicles, and requires DOJ technical assistance and reporting to improve rural access.
Official title: To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the funds under the matching grant program for school security to be used to hire school resource officers, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 17, 2025 by Tony Gonzales · Last progress September 17, 2025
Expands allowable uses of existing Department of Justice school safety grants to explicitly allow hiring and equipping school resource officers (SROs) and purchasing vehicles for SRO use. It also requires the Attorney General to provide technical assistance to help rural and geographically underserved areas access these grants, and directs annual reporting to Congress on how that assistance improved access. The bill makes three new authorized grant purposes (hiring SROs, buying firearms/protective equipment for SROs, and buying vehicles including ATVs and bicycles), creates a new DOJ technical assistance duty focused on underserved areas, and adds an annual report requirement describing the effect of that assistance.