Police officers would be required in schools experiencing crimes under a Republican bill passed Tuesday

MADISON – Assembly lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that would require police officers be stationed in public schools experiencing high numbers of reported crimes — a proposal that comes at a time when Milwaukee city leaders are planning to boost police presence at city schools.

Under legislation proposed by Republican lawmakers, a school district would be required to hire an armed school resource officer for schools experiencing at least 100 incidents of serious crimes on school grounds within one semester and at least 25 of those result in an arrest.

The rule would apply to crimes of homicide, sexual assault, burglary, robbery, theft, battery, possession or use of illegal drugs, firearm possession and disorderly conduct.

"Students and faculty need to feel safe when they’re at schools," Bill co-authors Rep. Nik Rettinger of Mukwonago and Cindi Duchow of the Town of Delafield said in a co-sponsorship memo to colleagues seeking support for the proposal. "Students, especially in light of the struggles experienced through virtual learning, should always have a school environment that encourages educational development and allows them to flourish."

Rettinger said Tuesday he did not believe school districts already paying for resource officers would be eligible under the bill to receive funding to offset their costs.

Jeff Fleming, spokesman for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, said the city and school district are considering ways to have a "more dedicated presence" at schools in Milwaukee, especially during after-school events.

The bill passed 59-36 with Republican Rep. Scott Johnson of Jefferson joining Democrats in opposing the legislation.

Rep. LaKeshia Myers, a Democratic lawmaker who attended and previously worked as an educator in MPS, said state lawmakers should respect the district's school board's decision to employ security staff to avoid unnecessary arrests during behavioral incidents as opposed to contract with the police department.

The district employs 231 unarmed school safety staff members.

MPS stopped paying for police in schools after the George Floyd protests

In 2020, the Milwaukee Public Schools board voted unanimously to stop paying Milwaukee police officers to patrol outside its buildings and events — a move school leaders made in the wake of protests over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.

If the Assembly bill to be taken up Tuesday were to become law, MPS could be required to post armed officers inside its buildings for the first time in seven years. In 2016, school district officials ended the practice in response to complaints about police unnecessarily citing and arresting students for incidents that could have been handled as disciplinary matters by the district.

The bill is supported by the Milwaukee and statewide police unions and opposed by Milwaukee Public Schools, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, Disability Rights Wisconsin and groups representing school psychologists and social workers.

Lobbyists for Disability Rights Wisconsin said in a statement opposing the bill that the proposal could disproportionately affect students with disabilities who represent more than 34% of school referrals to law enforcement despite accounting for 14.5% of the state's student population.

"The presence of SROs contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline, particularly for students of color who havedisabilities as well," the group said.

Rettinger and Duchow said the bill aims to curb violence in schools that has increased since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. in early 2020 and closed schools for a time period.

Under the bill, school district costs of hiring officers would be partially reimbursed with federal pandemic relief funding. But a fiscal analysis of the legislation by the state Department of Administration said the funding source specified in the bill could not be used.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, on Tuesday dismissed the memo's findings.

Lawmakers also passed legislation 61-35 that requires the Department of Public Instruction to include criminal activity statistics on school report cards.

Lawmakers keep ban on banning 'conversion therapy' counseling

On Tuesday, lawmakers again barred state officials who oversee the licensing of therapists from banning a discredited practice known as conversion therapy.

Republicans on the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules in January voted to suspend a rule first developed in 2020 by the state Department of Safety and Professional Services’ board that licenses marriage and family therapists, counselors and social workers that prohibited conversion therapy. The committee had blocked the rule in 2021 but it went back into effect in December.

All Democrats on the committee voted against the move, citing research showing the practice's harmful effects on mental health of gay patients.

Republican lawmakers sent the proposal back to the rules committee to avoid a veto by Gov. Tony Evers, keeping the ban in place through 2024.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: GOP bill requires cops in Wisconsin schools experiencing high crime