Ensuring Safer Schools Act of 2025
The Ensuring Safer Schools Act of 2025 would prioritize hiring and training veterans and retired law enforcement officers to serve as school resource officers (SROs). It expands and aligns existing grant programs under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to specifically support veteran/retired-officer SROs, adds mental health screening and annual training for these officers, and requires officers to engage with students at least annually to build familiarity and community connections. The bill also directs coordination between the Department of Veterans Affairs and grant recipients to connect veterans with SRO opportunities through local law enforcement and school partnership programs. In short, the bill aims to improve school safety by leveraging the experience of veterans and retired LEOs as SROs, while embedding mental health screening, ongoing training, and stronger student-officer relationships into SRO programs.
Key Points
- 1Prioritizes veterans and retired law enforcement officers for hiring and training to serve as school resource officers, using grant programs to support these hires.
- 2Expands grant eligibility/considerations to explicitly include hiring and training veterans and retired officers as SROs (increases emphasis within COPS-related funding).
- 3Requires mental health screening and annual officer training on tactics and response, funded through grants under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act.
- 4Adds a new annual community engagement requirement for SROs, mandating at least annual meetings with students to foster familiarity and engagement.
- 5Establishes a coordination role for the Department of Veterans Affairs to connect veterans seeking SRO positions with local law enforcement and school partnership programs.