TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on May 3, 2024

According to a state report released in February, just 67% of public elementary schools and 75% of public middle and high schools in Tennessee have taken advantage of the $140 million provided by the state last summer to put an armed school resource officer (SRO) in every school. Only $98.4 million has been used, and Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, says that is mainly due to staffing problems. Bailey told WKRN that “There’s currently 500 public schools within the state of Tennessee that are still not equipped with a school resource officer. There just aren’t those individuals available with POST certification to be able to work in those schools.”