Kentucky School Advocate

May 2024

Staff report

Armed “guardians” could be arriving in Kentucky schools starting in the 2025-26 school year after the legislature passed a bill creating the “guardians” program. 

Under SB 2, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville (at right), schools can use the armed “guardians” in the absence of or in addition to school resource officers (SROs). 

“It’s another layer for schools to be able to use as a resource, someone there to protect our children,” Wise said. “We wanted to give any school district that can’t get an SRO to have someone in their community that would fall under this guidance.”

“Guardians”  must be retired law enforcement or honorably discharged veterans and meet specific training and fitness requirements – although they are not required to undergo all the same training as SROs. “Guardians” do not have arresting powers and cannot discipline students. The program is modeled after a similar program in Florida. 

Oversight of the program will fall to the Kentucky Center for School Safety and school boards will decide whether the district will participate in the program. 

The bill also requires districts to report annually to the state their trauma-informed team activities and student mental health services and standardizes school mapping requirements for use by first responders.

As the bill worked its way through the legislature, an amendment, filed by Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, was added which allowed licensed pastoral counselors to serve on trauma-informed care school teams. The amendment was not included in the passage of the final bill. SB 2 became law without the governor’s signature.