U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Sponsored School Safety Legislation Passes House, Earns Support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the bipartisan STOP School Violence Act. Senator Baldwin helped introduce the bipartisan school safety legislation in the Senate last week that funds school security improvements and invests in early intervention and prevention programs to stop school violence before it happens. The bipartisan Senate legislation earned the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this week.

“We must work together to advance commonsense solutions that will make our schools and communities safer,” said Senator Baldwin. “Now is the time for the Senate to pass this bipartisan legislation. I don’t support arming educators in schools - what we should do is make investments in early intervention and prevention programs, as well as school security improvements. This is a good step forward on bipartisan results and we must continue working together to find common ground on gun safety reforms to protect our children and save lives.”

The Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018, led by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), authorizes the Department of Justice to make grants for the purposes of training students, school personnel and law enforcement to identify signs of violence and intervene to prevent people from hurting themselves or others.

In addition to prevention efforts, the legislation funds evidence-based technology and equipment to improve school security and prevent school violence. This includes the development of anonymous reporting systems and commonsense security infrastructure improvements. The legislation also provides funds for school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams to help schools intake and triage threats before tragedy strikes. 

Following tragedies like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook and now Parkland, the federal government has funded short-term school safety initiatives focused on crisis response, active shooters and physical infrastructure. While these are important investments, we have not yet seen sustained strategies to stop violence in our schools before it happens. Our students, educators and local law enforcement need the tools and support to take proactive and continuous steps toward improving school safety and security.