Senator Collins Joins Group of 12 Senators in Introducing School Safety Legislation

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins joined a group of 12 Senators in introducing legislation to allow 100,000 public schools to improve school safety by using federal dollars for school counselors, alarm systems, security cameras, and crisis intervention training.

“It is imperative that we take action to ensure that schools are a safe learning environment,” said Senator Collins.  “Our legislation would assist communities seeking to upgrade infrastructure and technology to improve school safety.  It would also invest in mental health programs so that students have access to the services they need.  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, which is one of many commonsense steps we can take to reduce gun violence.”

There are 100,000 public schools in the United States and state and local governments provide about 90 percent of public schools’ funding, but the federal government can and should help create an environment for communities, school boards and states to create safer schools.

Under The School Safety & Mental Health Services Improvement Act, the federal government can help in the following four ways:

• Encourages more school counselors and other mental health professionals;
• Encourages school safety infrastructure upgrades;
• Encourages the development of mental health programs for crisis intervention training and mental health assessments; and
• Creates a presidential task force to increase interagency communication

Senator Collins introduced the School Safety & Mental Health Services Improvement Act with Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Bob Corker (R-TN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Todd Young (R-IN).

Click HERE to read the full-text of the bill.