Pflugerville school district files for exemption from campus policing requirements

The Pflugerville school board voted on Thursday to claim an exemption to Texas' new law requiring an armed officer or employee at every public school campus.

District officials said they are submitting for the good cause exemption due to financial limitations. The district's $279.5 budget accounts for a $2.94 million deficit without a voter-approval tax ratification election or a $1.3 million surplus if a VATRE passes. Officials say the surplus is still not enough to fund an officer at each campus.

More: Pflugerville school district approves $297.5M budget, including 3% pay raises

HB 3, the school safety bill the Legislature passed this spring, took effect Sept. 1. Along with other reporting and security requirements, the law mandates one armed officer on every campus with some room for exceptions, such as districts that can’t fulfill the officer requirements because of funding or staffing issues.

Lawmakers passed the law partly in response to the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School, which left 19 children and two teachers dead.

"To meet House Bill 3 requirements, we are going to have approve an alternate standard based on the fact that one, we cannot find enough qualified applicants, and number two, we do not have enough money to fund an officer on every campus," said Superintendent Doug Killian.

The district's Police Department has 26 sworn police officers and four civilian positions. The district has 22 elementary campuses, seven middle schools, four high schools and two alternative schools. District police Chief Patrick Petherbridge said that as many districts work to meet the requirements, there also will be a shortage of officers.

To meet the requirements of HB 3, the district would have to hire 22 officers and at least two sergeants to supervise the additional officers, Petherbridge said.

Petherbridge said hiring the extra officers would cost about $1.6 million, based on a minimum salary of $52,884 annually. The district also would spend about $1.2 million on needed equipment, including vehicles, radios and uniforms, Petherbridge said.

He said it would cost approximately $126,000 for the two sergeants and $236,000 for equipment. In total, he said, the district would spend about $2.6 million to meet HB3 requirements.

Petherbridge said that until the Police Department has enough funding to meet the requirements, and to qualify for its exemption claim, it is focused on hiring five new officers to patrol the elementary campuses. Petherbridge said those campuses are usually underserved by the department as there is a greater need for officers on middle and high school campuses.

To meet the bill's requirements, the department also is considering training one staff member per elementary campus to carry handguns through the Texas School Guardian Program. Another option, Petherbridge said, would be to hire staff interested in law enforcement as a cadet while they attend a regional law enforcement academy.

Since the mass shooting in Uvalde, Petherbridge said, officers try to patrol elementary campuses once a day but cannot be there all day.

More: AISD to double police force, spend extra $6M to comply with new Texas school security law

The Pflugerville school district is one of many in the area hiring officers to comply with the new state law.

Nearby, the Austin school district is readying to hire 75 new officers — nearly doubling its police force — which is expected to cost $5.8 million, to comply with the law.

The Del Valle school district plans to spend $1.1 million to hire 10 new employees, which will nearly double its security staff.

In June, the Eanes school district announced it would hire nine new officers and spend $1.6 million to create a new school police department. District officials said they’d planned on creating the force before the Legislature passed HB 3.

Keri Heath contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: PfISD files for exemption from campus policing requirements