Justice Department cancels school safety studies due to spending bill

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hill

The Justice Department on Saturday cancelled two studies into school safety after the funding for the programs was cut under the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that President Trump signed Friday.

A message posted on the website for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) states that funding for the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI) and the Research and Evaluation of Technologies to Improve School Safety solicitation was cut under the omnibus spending bill and reapportioned to the recently-passed Stop School Violence Act of 2018.

"With the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, the funding planned for these solicitations is no longer available for research and evaluation. Instead, it will be used for other purposes under the Stop School Violence Act of 2018," reads the notice.

-snip-

The funding cut, however, turns the programs into another example of congressional waste as most of the funded programs had begun research yet were still in the process of producing final reports.

-snip-

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/380077-justice-department-cancels-school-safety-studies-due-to-spending-bill

[Igel]

1. One of the Stoneman students tweeted his support.

Kashuv.

Who are we to say that he's wrong and criticize him?

[Hortensis]

2. :) Readers? Citizens? It's not a matter of criticizing,

but of understanding the issue. We're adults and voters after all.

Frankly, I hadn't read about this until this thread made me realize I should. Notably, this bill passed in the house with bipartisan support of 407 to 10. This included the Democratic representative for Parkland, FL. Similar for the senate. That kind of very strong support usually indicates a generally good and needed bill. (Preparing to grade everything coming out of this Repub-controlled congress on a serious curve of course.)

It funds four big things, training, anonymous reporting systems, threat assessments, intervention teams and school and police coordination. And it specifically excludes use of any money for arming teachers. So this re-appropriation shifts focus from study to action.

It's probably (assuming they're good studies) a shame the research programs begun 2014 lost funding, but we do have a Repub-controlled congress and their funders are insisting on big returns on investment.

I also read that the Senate has a bill to strengthen existing background checks of gun purchasers that also has broad bipartisan support but hasn't been scheduled for debate yet.

Here's Time's article on this bill: http://time.com/5201713/what-is-stop-school-violence-act/