San Angelo ISD Claims Exception to Armed-Officer Rule Amid Staffing Shortages

SAN ANGELO, TX — The San Angelo ISD Board of Trustees voted 6-0 on Tuesday to claim a good-cause exception to a state law that requires an armed security officer at every campus during regular school hours, citing a shortage of available police officers. 

The exception, approved for the 2026-27 school year, allows the district to continue using school resource officers and overtime officers from the San Angelo Police Department and the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office rather than stationing a full-time peace officer at each campus all day. 

Claudia Becerra, the district’s director of student services and school safety, told trustees House Bill 3 requires a school district police officer, school resource officer or commissioned peace officer employed as security personnel to be present at every campus during regular school hours. The state provided $15,000 per campus to meet the requirement, she said, but that amount was not enough to pay for an officer at each school. 

Becerra said the board had already determined one officer per campus was the appropriate standard and had approved funding to hire as many officers as apply and qualify. After talking with local law enforcement agencies, she said the district was told there were not enough officers to assign one to every campus because of the departments’ own staffing shortages. 

The law allows a school board to claim a good-cause exception and identify an alternative standard if a lack of funding or available personnel makes compliance impossible. Becerra asked the board to claim the exception because of the availability of personnel and to keep the district’s current practice in place.

“The district is confident that its current approach is the best available option,” she said. 

Superintendent Chris Moran said the vote does not change how the district staffs campuses. He said San Angelo ISD does not have a full-time police officer at every campus every day and instead uses school resource officers and officers working overtime after completing their regular shifts. 

It was shared at the meeting that the district has two or three school resource officers, generally assigned at the high schools, and relies on San Angelo police officers and sheriff’s deputies who work for the district on their days off. Moran said many Texas boards claim the exception annually and that some districts use other options, including marshal or guardian programs or private armed security. 

Trustees asked how much coverage the current model provides. 

Becerra said every campus is covered at least once a day, but not necessarily all day. At elementary schools, she said, an officer may be at one campus in the morning and move to another in the afternoon.

“There’s an officer present at every campus every day, just not all day,” she said. 

District officials said they pay the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office $60 an hour and the San Angelo Police Department $85 an hour. Officials said both agencies could collect the same rate, but the sheriff’s office chose the lower amount because of differences in how the pay is processed. Trustees said the rates were increased two years ago. 

Board President Taylor Kingman asked whether local police and sheriff’s officials know which campuses may need closer patrol coverage. Becerra said they do.

He also summarized the arrangement as local departments filling their own positions first and the district using leftover officers until those agencies are fully staffed. Becerra said that was correct. 

When Trustee Karla Cardenas asked whether any campus is ever left without an armed officer, Moran said the district would not discuss specific coverage details in public. He said officers sometimes miss assignments because of injury or other reasons and that the district then moves officers among campuses, similar to how it covers teacher vacancies. 

After further questions about whether campuses are safe every day, Moran said yes and that a plan is in place.

Trustee Ami Mizell-Flint asked whether approving the exception would allow the district to hire armed security guards if more officers were needed. Moran said it would give the board the ability to consider other options. 

Trustee Bill Dendle made the motion “to claim a good cause exemption for armed security officers for the 2026-27 school year.” 

Trustee Gerard Gallegos seconded. The motion passed 6-0.