Excerpt from: Education Week (click for full article)
The national discussion about improving school safety evolving from
the shootings in Newtown, Conn., reached a pivotal moment last week, as
the U.S. Senate began consideration of a measure to strengthen
school building security, and a Senate committee passed a measure that would bolster school-based mental-health services.
Although Republican senators threatened a filibuster to keep the Senate from discussing the school building security measure—part of proposed legislation that deals largely with the higher-profile issue of gun control—compromises reached behind the scenes nudged the legislation onto the chamber's floor by the end of the week.
The deal that paved the way for the Senate breakthrough centered on some aspects of the gun bill regarding background checks for buyers. It came on the heels of plans for improving school safety from the National Rifle Association and other groups, and followed President Barack Obama's proposals for new spending in his budget to upgrade security, improve school climate, and boost mental-health-care services for students—similar ideas to those he offered in January in response to the Newtown shootings. But those measures are likely to face an uphill battle in a Congress that has proved unfriendly to proposals that involve new spending.
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