Iowa House lawmakers OK $3M grant program to help buy guns for teachers, pay for training

Iowa House lawmakers are pushing through a bill that would provide $3 million to pay for training for school districts that choose to arm staff members and could be used to buy guns for school employees.

The legislation, House Study Bill 692, is part of a larger bill with other school safety requirements. It is meant to complement a separate measure House lawmakers passed last week that would allow teachers and other school staff to obtain a professional permit to carry guns on school grounds, and provide them with legal immunity for the use of reasonable force.

Both bills are part of Republicans' legislative response to a deadly shooting at Perry High School in January.

School districts would be limited to grants of $25,000, under the bill. They could use the money to purchase infrastructure and equipment related to arming staff, or to facilitate the required staff training.

More: Iowa Republicans move closer to arming school staff and giving them legal immunity in shootings

Schools could also use the money to "provide stipends to employees who participate in the training associated with employee permits to carry weapons," the bill states.

The bill passed the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday on a party-line vote after Republicans amended the legislation to create the grant program for costs associated with arming school staff.

Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, asked the bill's sponsor, Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Panora, if schools could use the money to buy guns for teachers and other staff.

"Yes," Nordman said.

Zabner called the proposal "ridiculous."

"The solution for school shootings should not be state money to put more guns in schools," he said. "That is ridiculous. It is shameful. It’s not a solution to the problem."

Nordman said Republican lawmakers have a "multi-pronged approach" to school safety. He said he and his colleagues have met "countless times" with the Iowa Department of Education, as well as students, parents, teachers and administrators and law enforcement in Perry since the shooting.

"We are taking multiple steps to continue to make our schools safer, and this is another great step in the right direction," he said.

The bill would also require school districts to conduct school safety reviews and share the results with law enforcement, create a task force to review school infrastructure safety and security standards and require schools to have emergency radios that are capable of contacting law enforcement.

More: Iowa school students walk out of class to protest gun violence after Perry shooting

The original bill would have provided $3 million for a grant program for schools to purchase emergency radios, but the amendment puts that money toward training and employee stipends for school districts that choose to arm staff.

Nordman said Gov. Kim Reynolds has agreed to use $3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars to pay for the emergency radios.

Nordman said it would be up to each school district to decide whether to adopt a policy allowing staff to be armed.

House bill on arming school staff advances in Senate

Republicans' bill to allow districts to arm school staff and grant them legal immunity also cleared another legislative hurdle after passing the House last week.

A Senate subcommittee approved House File 2586 in a hearing Wednesday, sending it to the full Education Committee.

Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, who chaired the subcommittee, said there were still questions about specifics in the bill. But he said he hoped it would reduce concerns from insurers, after two districts that had opted to arm staff were denied coverage and then dropped their plans.

"I would hope to see a couple of insurers come to the table and be interested in partnering with schools," Evans said.

Des Moines Register reporter Galen Bacharier contributed reporting.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa House panel OKs $3M program to buy guns for teachers, train them