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someone in the school had been armed, things may have been different or the gunman may have thought twice about launching his killing spree.
• (It's curious that, after the Newtown massacre, we were told that we shouldn't act so reflexively when it comes to gun legislation, but then comes this piece of legislation, which is clearly reflexive.)
• The school sentinel bill sparked vigorous debate last week and wound up passing the House by a healthy margin. It did so even though most educators and administrators we've encountered don't support the measure. The bill may well cruise through the Senate and be signed into law.
• But, as stated above, it may all come to nothing. The measure says school boards can approve the sentinel program as long as local law enforcement sign off on it, too. If it gets that far, certain personnel will be trained in handling firearms, thus becoming the armed, trained sentinels that could, in theory, diffuse another Sandy Hook or Columbine from happening.
• But if school boards don't embrace the measure, or if local law enforcement don't approve it, then the whole idea is a non-starter for that district.
• We suppose the notion of local control is a sound one, even for an idea like this, which has numerous flawed ideas attached to it.
• However, it does seem that the sentinel issue is pulling attention away from education funding, a dire matter that has been so painful the past two years but has been shoved to the background in Pierre this winter.
• This should be no surprise. Gov. Daugaard barely mentioned education funding in his State of the State address, even though it is a pressing headache in school districts all across the state. Those districts endured deep, ravaging cuts two years ago, then received very minor reinforcement last year. There are still gapping financial wounds that need to be addressed -- there are cuts that need to be restored -- but we are not talking about them.
• Yes, school safety is absolutely important, but it's not clear that bringing guns to school is the answer to fears about guns in schools. There may be better, smarter, more practical, more necessary and more logical approaches than a dubious reaction like this.
• But school funding is an ongoing crisis. It's the gift that keeps on taking. This needs to become a major topic of conversation again very soon. Otherwise, it will slip between the cracks, and the current state of education funding will become a crippling status quo from which this state may never recover.
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