We already knew the Legislature would not pass significant gun control legislation following the Annunciation school shooting. Less clear is if Republicans and DFLers might hammer out a school safety package sans gun restrictions to show Annunciation parents, ‘Hey, at least we did something.’
On Tuesday, lawmakers in the split House gave their answer for now: No, there will not be a bipartisan school safety bill.
Rep. Bryan Lawrence, R-Princeton, introduced a bill to the House Education Finance Committee that would put $102 million toward school safety proposals, and was dead before the committee even met.
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“This proposal by my Republican colleagues isn’t serious,” the committee’s DFL co-chair Cheryl Youakim of Hopkins declared in a press release an hour before the panel met. “It does absolutely nothing about guns in our schools or communities.”
In the most predictable vote in the history of votes, the committee reached a 12-12 deadlock on advancing Lawrence’s measure with every Republican saying ‘aye’ and each Democrat uttering ‘nay.’
Youakim said that she would bring forth a DFL school safety proposal before the committee Thursday.
Guess how committee members will vote on that.
Lawrence’s measure included money for not just school districts but charters, tribal compact and private schools currently cut off from some aid programs, a key issue for Republicans.
“This works to create a safe, educational learning environment for all students,” Lawrence said at a news conference prior to the committee. “And I’m going to repeat that part of it, all students in the state of Minnesota.”
(The Catholic Conference, which Annunciation is part of, supports such a measure. The lobbying group has also advocated for an assault weapons ban.)
Its spending items include $50 million for one-time school facility grants.
Lawrence’s proposal also advanced a bipartisan idea of schools developing an anonymous threat reporting system.
But DFLers panned this, noting the bill’s language “encouraged” such a system and did not require it.
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“Anonymous reporting is a super effective way to help kids,” said Julie Greene, DFL-Edina. “That part of the bill doesn’t go far enough.”
Greene also asked why there was not specific funding earmarked for such systems.
Facing these and other DFL criticisms, Lawrence was conciliatory, telling DFLers “we can discuss” bill changes.
And Yoakim did say “I’m happy we’re having this discussion” but also suggested it was too late to broker a compromise. The Legislature has a self-imposed deadline of Friday to pass budget bills out of their committee of origin.
Even since the Annunciation School and Church shooting in August that left two children dead, Republicans have pitched school safety measures as alternatives for the assault weapons and high-capacity magazine bans that Annunciation parents have called for.
Ron Kresha, the Republican co-chair of Education Finance, said the GOP bill shows Annunciation parents, “We’re willing to listen.”
“If we didn’t get a school safety package done, there would be a great sense of sadness,” Kresha told reporters before the hearing.
But with the legislative session scheduled to wrap up in a month, the Little Falls Republican acknowledged that lawmakers’ time at the Capitol is finite.
“This is the time when people are going to start looking at May. The weather is changing, and they’re like, ‘How long do we want to be here?’”
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