LINCOLN- On Wednesday, and in the wake of the recent school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, the Nebraska Legislature's Education Committee voted 7-0 to advance LB516, a bill introduced by Sen. Lynne Walz that contains four recommendations from Nebraska's School Safety Task Force. The Task Force was created following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas last year, and was led by then-Education Chair Walz and then-Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt.

The recommendations from the task force include hiring regional support specialists to increase safety training, an appropriation of $870,000 annually to continue the Safe2HelpNE reporting hotline, the creation of a $15 million grant program for safety infrastructure, and another $5 million program to hire mental health specialists and school psychologists. Walz recently introduced an amendment to the bill, which sought to clarify that the regional specialists and grants would be available to approved or accredited public and nonpublic schools.

"I think that it will show that Nebraska is putting its best foot forward when it comes to protecting kids and trying to secure our schools," said Walz in defense of her bill. Sen. Dave Murman, who currently chairs the Education Committee, said that, although Nebraska's schools have been doing the best they can to improve safety, Walz's bill will provide additional state support to go even further.

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