JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri task force is recommending that schools in the state employ armed officers if they can afford it and if their local governments support the idea.
Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe headed the task force that spent months working on a school safety plan and released its findings Wednesday. The group used the federal government's school safety report as a template. That report was commissioned in 2018 after a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Missouri's current guidelines say schools should have a safety coordinator. But the task force says that role lacks a clear job description and that there is no comprehensive school safety training.
Missouri set aside $300,000 for school safety initiatives.
