Van Alstyne ISD trustees are scheduled to vote tonight on a resolution saying the district cannot keep an armed security officer on every campus at all times during the school day, and on the fallback plan it would use instead.
The good cause exception is on the consent agenda for the board's regular meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, so it could pass in a single vote with other routine items unless a trustee asks to pull it for discussion.
What the resolution says
The draft resolution cites Section 37.0814 of the Texas Education Code, which it says requires each board to make sure at least one armed security officer is on every district campus during regular school hours, and that at least one of them be a commissioned peace officer.
The same section, according to the resolution, lets a board claim a good cause exception when it cannot comply because of funding or the availability of qualified people.
Van Alstyne's resolution points to money. It says the board committed in 2022 to building a district police department with the goal of one officer per campus, and that the department has grown to seven officers as of the start of the 2026-27 school year. That is enough to permanently assign at least one officer to each of the district's six instructional campuses.
The gap, according to the document, comes when officers are away for in-service training, court appearances, calls off campus or personal leave. The resolution says that without additional state money for school safety, and with the district growing quickly and needing more teachers and other staff, it cannot hire more officers right now.
The fallback plan
Under the alternative standard spelled out in the resolution:
