Don’t allow federal funding to be spent on arming school staff members or training them to use weapons, more than a dozen groups representing educators told lawmakers in charge of education spending in a letter last week.
The letter—which was signed by both national teachers’ unions, groups representing elementary and secondary school principals, the National PTA, and more—echoes calls from congressional Democrats to make it clear that states and districts can’t spend money from Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act on guns for school staff.
President Donald Trump has called for federal resources to arm teachers as one way to help prevent or cope with school shootings. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has said there is nothing in ESSA that would prevent a district from using Title IV funds that way.
But the advocates for educators say that allowing the money to be spent on guns would divert it from its intended purposes.
