Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is proposing to give schools more money for security improvements and to make greater use of the National Guard.
Boxer's legislation is a response to the Connecticut school shooting that killed 20 children and six adults working at the school. It would boost a grants program from $30 million annually to $50 million. The grants pay for such things as metal detectors.
Governors are already free to call in National Guard members for security at borders and airports, but a second Boxer bill would give them the financial incentive to do so for schools. Under her bill, the federal government would reimburse states for the expense, perhaps with one or two National Guard members supplementing work by a school's assigned police officer.
