OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, on Monday passed a bill the House Appropriations & Budget Subcommittee on Education that would improve safety for students in state schools.

House Bill 3860 would create the School Safety Interoperability Fund, allowing school districts to acquire interoperable communications and alarm systems that can be used between schools, counties, municipalities and law enforcement departments in the event of emergencies or school shootings. The fund would be administered by the Department of Public Safety.

"This would allow even our smallest districts that don't have the means to purchase elaborate radio or camera systems to interact with their local law enforcement departments should an emergency arise," Ford said.

Ford, a former police officer and the former director of security for Union Public Schools, said this bill could help save lives when minutes count. He said he's spoken with various law enforcement agencies and with technology experts in the field who have assured him that these interoperable systems can work no matter the size of the district or the limited equipment they may have available.

"They might have bought their cameras at Costco and installed them themselves," Ford said. "But I'm told that once these interoperable systems are in place, an officer can receive a call and flip a switch and get first-hand information of what is going on in the school, enabling them to form a plan while they are enroute to deliver assistance."

Ford said he is still working out the exact amount that might be available in this year's budget to appropriate to the fund. It is designed to work alongside legislation passed last year that provides $50 million annually for three years to rural and underserved schools as startup grants for school resource officer (SRO) programs.

Ford said the measure will enhance and make school security more robust, not replace any school resource officer already in a school.

When questioned about whether such a coordinated approach would help prevent school shooting tragedies, Ford said he had every confidence that would be the case.

"We already put this in motion when we gave the Department of Public Safety the ability to train all of our school resource officers the same way across the state," Ford said. "By having that unified training in place, we already are way ahead of the game. I think with our security guards in our schools and our SRO program, we would never have a Uvalde in Oklahoma. We have dedicated law enforcement and school security officers, and I know I myself would never hesitate to go in by myself to an active shooter situation if need be. Other officers statewide have expressed the same sentiment. They are going to protect students' lives at all cost."

HB3860 passed the subcommittee unanimously on a vote of 12-0. It is now eligible to be considered by the full House A&B Committee.