In our opinion: Tighter school security

Ever since the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, school districts across the country have done their best to improve school security.

Some have hired armed guards to stand watch in school buildings. Some have improved security systems, locking all exterior doors and filtering visitors through one main entrance. Some have installed metal detectors and other screening devices. Some have done all this, and more.

New Jersey officials recognize the need for increased school security, and they want to do something about it — or, at least, they want to study what to do about it.

The state Senate and Assembly recently established a School Security Task Force that will ultimately give recommendations on how to improve school security and safety. The group will also make recommendations on building security and assessment standards for current school buildings and new ones to come.

Some of the areas of focus they will study:

• Placing screening systems at school entrances
• Using biometric, retina or other advanced recognition
• Stationing police officers in each school building
• Requiring advanced student and visitor identification

Conducting an official study on school security with a panel of industry experts is a tremendous, and long overdue, idea. Just like with student testing and budgeting requirements, it’s a good idea to have a standardized system for security at schools throughout New Jersey.

But this begs the question: How will we pay for whatever this task force recommends?

Let’s say, for example, the task force recommends a “biometric, retina or other advanced recognition” system for visitors entering school buildings, and our state government then passes that bill. How are our already-cash-strapped school districts going to pay for what sounds like an expensive system?

Studying school security on a statewide level is a great first step. Making recommendations on how to improve security is a natural second step. But a necessary third step must be how any required security enhancements will be paid for, and by whom. In an age when schools are having trouble paying for teachers, it’s hard to imagine biometrics being easy to fit into the budget.