Among his 23 gun control executive orders, President Obama authorized the spending of $150 million to hire “up to 1,000” armed resource officers and school counselors.
Just one problem: there are 98,817 government schools in America, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal agency. Therefore only 1 percent of schools would potentially benefit from Obama’s new government solution.
Apparently the other 99 percent (hey, where have we heard that term before?) would be left to the whims of deranged individuals who think it’s acceptable to slaughter children.
Hiring 1,000 new government employees to potentially cover, on average, 100 schools each isn’t going to do a whole lot. So what’s the point of spending all of that tax money?
They might have a better idea in Orrville, Ohio, where the school board has authorized a science teacher who is also a part-time police officer to carry a gun in class. That school won’t have to worry about getting one of the very few resources officers provided by the federal government.
Obama is also requiring Congress to provide $30 million in “one-time grants” for school districts to create “emergency management plans.”
He then creates an unfunded mandate by requiring states and school districts to maintain those plans on a continual basis, even after the grant money is gone.
Obama also is offering an additional $50 million for 8,000 schools to train teachers and other school staff to implement strategies to increase “nurturing school climates” and to curb “violence and bullying.”
But only 8 percent of schools will benefit from that expenditure. What about the bullying going on at the other 92 percent?
It is hard to see how any of this is little more than window dressing. Throwing money around to a select few schools isn’t going to accomplish much of anything.
But it gives the appearance of a president taking action, and that’s the political goal.