Posted on 08/29/2011 11:36:59 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — El Paso's three largest school districts will be the first in Texas to explore ways to consolidate their security forces and hopefully cut their combined $15 million security budgets.
A bill by state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, requiring El Paso County school districts to look at consolidation options was passed this year at a time when the Texas Legislature was dealing with a $27 billion budget deficit. Public education funding was cut by about $4 billion.
While the slash in funding forced layoffs and program cuts, the security budgets remained untouched.
Pickett's bill has already raised ire among officials and security personnel in the El Paso, Socorro and Ysletta districts who believe they may not be able to cut spending through consolidation and that such a program could harm security.
The El Paso Times reported (http://bit.ly/qwtsm5 ) that Pickett believes the bill will force greater transparency and serve as a "healthy exercise" for all involved. He said he was surprised to learn the districts' security forces had as many employees and vehicles as they do.
"Why do we have such large police forces?" Pickett asked.
Officials from the three districts must meet before Jan. 1, 2012. A report on their findings, including a detailed analysis of costs and staffing, must be submitted to the state's commission of education by May 2012. As of now, no other Texas county is required to discuss security consolidation.
Last school year, the three districts responded to nearly 2,000 school fights and reported more than 1,000 incidents involving controlled substances and drugs. The security forces are responsible for everything from minor incidents involving tobacco use to serious safety concerns such as terrorist threats.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Kick the illegals out
Gee, maybe they could consider calling ICE to haul all the illegal students back across the bridge, huh? Naw, El Paso is nothing but illegals so that wouldn’t fly and ICE has proven it can’t find one in a protest parade. That’s ok, the good citizens of Texas have nothing else to do with our money than pay more taxes to support illegals.
when I was a kiddie (back in the stone age) we didnt need crossing guards on every possible street corner, and door to door bus pickup WITH a second ‘helper’ on each bus to walk you across the street...
Ping!
Hmmmmm. Very interesting. I never even bothered to look at that part of the budget. Two thousand fights? I wonder how many of them started in the school parking lots where kids have no idea what safe driving means. I wonder if any fights started when personal property was stolen right in the classroom with teachers and police unable to assist in any way. It’s a quagmire. Good kids, ( and there are many) don’t stand a chance. Good teachers (and there are many) don’t take a chance.
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