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Students and officials outline 2026 recommendations: statewide assessments, reporting to fusion center, BESE design standards, SRO training
Summary
The Legislative Youth Advisory Council and task force members proposed three priorities for 2026: triennial physical safety assessments by state police, streamlined threat reporting to the state fusion center, and BESE-required security design standards for new or renovated schools; the task force also reviewed SRO training and an SRO association's continuing-education work.
Student members of the Legislative Youth Advisory Council and task force staff presented three primary recommendations the task force hopes to move toward the 2026 legislative session: triennial physical school-safety assessments conducted by state police, a requirement that local law enforcement report serious threats to the state fusion center to streamline statewide communications, and BESE-required safety and security design standards for new schools or major renovations (for example, single-point entry/vestibules).
"The first being that physical assessments are required for all schools and are conducted every 3 years by state police," a student representative said while outlining the council’s priorities.
The council also suggested optional or supporting measures: annual hands-on active-shooter training for teachers and staff (not students); in-person active-shooter recertification for SROs incorporated into their recertification schedule; statewide standardization of active-shooter response models; explicit emergency-operation plans that include reunification procedures; reduced monthly fire-drill frequency (as a policy option); and expanded stop-the-bleed training for staff and volunteers.
The task force heard a separate briefing from Rebecca Taylor Hill, state programs manager with the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, who summarized the POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) school resource officer (SRO) program. Hill said Title 17 and Title 40 establish the statutory authority for SROs and that federal Title II Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant dollars fund tuition-free SRO training; agencies pay only travel costs. She outlined the required five-day basic SRO course (required within one year of assignment), an optional three-day advanced course, written lesson designs and annual curriculum review, and testing (70% required to certify). Hill reported that POST has issued roughly 1,800 basic SRO certifications and about 968 advanced SRO certifications (transcript figures).
Bobby Robinson, retired commander and organizer of the Louisiana School Resource Officers Association, described the association’s work to provide continuing training through an annual conference, efforts to include school personnel beyond officers, and challenges in recruitment and pay that make SRO staffing uneven across parishes.
Senator Edmonds said legislative attorneys would begin drafting statutory recommendations, and he and Representative Owen will coordinate possible bill sponsorship in the Senate and House ahead of committee consideration during the legislative session. The task force did not adopt statutory text at the meeting and took no formal votes on policy.
