Gov. Jeff Colyer thinks arming teachers might be a good solution. He made the comments during an Axios 360 education town hall on Friday morning.
Colyer said President Donald Trump’s suggestion to incentivize teachers to get gun training so they can be armed in schools is an idea with merit.
“This may be a good solution…That’s where the students are. That’s where the security issue is immediate,” the Kansas Governor said. “That though is a very local decision on how we see it, because different schools, they have a different setup and different community standards. We’re exploring this right now.”
Colyer was one of three Governors to speak with Allen during the “Raising the Bar: A Conversation on Education in America” event. Govs. John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat, and Roy Cooper, a North Carolina Democrat, also discussed education issues. On the heels of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, securing schools took center stage during the conversation in the Washington, D.C.
Hickenlooper called Trump’s proposal a “terrible idea.”
“Having guns available to so many people makes the task of keeping schools safe almost impossible,” the Colorado Governor said. Cooper, North Carolina’s Governor, called it “ridiculous.”
Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer Supports President Trump’s Bid to Arm School Teachers: ‘That’s Where the Students Are, That’s Where the Security Issue is Immediately’ @The74 #Axios360 #EDlection2018 https://t.co/MW4ZGWGBAc
— Kathy Moore (@kjemoore15) February 23, 2018
In Kansas, school security decisions are local ones, Colyer said.
“We just starting to hear different communities are looking at different opportunities on how they want to approach that,” he said. “There’s a wide diversity of views, as everyone knows. In Kansas, they want to be very practical or very pragmatic.”
He told Allen that arming teachers is just one of several possible options for dealing with school security. He said any solution requires a multi-year approach.
“It’s not just the gun control issue. It’s not just the mental health issue. It’s not just the building itself. It is a multi point situation,” he said. “If here were a magic arrow for this, we’d all take that.”