Finance committee backs substitute to double school safety allotments; witnesses urge mental‑health guardrails

Chair Huffman recognized the bill sponsor and committee substitute for Senate Bill 260, a proposal to increase school safety funding established in recent legislation.

Chair Huffman explained the committee substitute, saying the 2023 legislature committed $1.4 billion in new school safety funding and that the substitute “would significantly increase both the per student and per campus school safety allotments, which costs roughly $500,000,000 for the biennium.” He told members the per‑student allotment “would increase from $10 for each student and average daily attendance to $28” and the per‑campus allotment “from 15,000 to 30,000.” He described the change as “another investment in the legislation.”

The nut graf: the substitute seeks to add approximately…