Missouri Senate Bill SB42

Missouri 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/8/25
• Refer: 1/16/25

Caption

Requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to ensure that safety assessments are conducted on all public schools located in St. Louis City or St. Louis County

Impact

The bill specifically targets schools located in cities not within a county, or in counties with more than one million inhabitants, which includes urban areas like St. Louis. By instituting mandatory safety assessments, SB42 seeks to enhance the security infrastructure of public educational institutions, addressing growing concerns about school violence and ensuring that schools are better prepared to respond to emergencies. It provides guidelines for evaluating various safety features like access controls, surveillance equipment, and safety procedures.

Summary

Senate Bill 42 mandates the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to ensure that all public and public charter schools in certain areas of Missouri conduct annual safety assessments. These assessments are specifically aimed at identifying vulnerabilities to school shootings and other security threats, emphasizing the need for schools to implement effective safety measures. Schools are required to evaluate their access controls, surveillance systems, visitor management, emergency communication tools, and other safety essentials.

Contention

A noteworthy aspect of the bill is that the findings of the safety assessments will not be treated as public records, potentially raising concerns about transparency and accountability. Critics argue that while enhancing school safety is a crucial objective, the lack of public access to the completion reports could obscure the conditions of school safety and might inhibit community involvement in school safety strategies. Additionally, the bill does not relieve schools of their existing responsibilities under state or federal laws regarding school safety standards.