Tennessee Senate Bill SB0257

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/23/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 8; Title 10, Chapter 7, Part 5; Title 37; Title 38; Title 49; Section 55-8-151 and Title 62, relative to school safety.

Summary

SB0257 revises Tennessee’s school safety laws by expanding who may serve as a school resource officer (SRO) and by clarifying the authority of those officers on school grounds. Under the bill, an SRO may be a traditional law enforcement officer, a retired law enforcement officer, or an honorably discharged veteran assigned to a public school by the school system or charter school. Local education agencies (LEAs) and public charter schools that choose to use these personnel must adopt policies describing the officers’ duties, responsibilities, authority, and any limits on that authority. The bill also updates firearm rules for school resource officers. It expressly permits an SRO to possess and carry a firearm on the grounds of the assigned school, and it sets conditions for nontraditional SROs, including firearm authorization under state law, approval by the school system, and completion of 40 hours of school policing training. The bill makes related conforming changes across several statutes dealing with juvenile proceedings, school safety, and traffic-related school zone provisions, and it takes effect July 1, 2025.

Impact

SB0257 would amend multiple sections of the Tennessee Code to broaden the definition of school resource officer and to align related statutes with that expanded definition. It affects Title 49 school safety provisions most directly, but also makes conforming edits in Titles 37, 10, 55, and 62 so that references to SROs point specifically to the law-enforcement-officer definition where intended. The bill would also require local school boards and charter school governing bodies that use retired officers or veterans as SROs to adopt written policies and ensure compliance with FERPA, public records/privacy laws, and the state Data Accessibility, Transparency and Accountability Act.

Sentiment

No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no documented floor or committee debate to gauge formal sentiment. Based on the bill text, the measure appears to be framed as a school safety enhancement and administrative clarification, suggesting a generally supportive intent toward increasing security options for schools. The absence of recorded votes or discussion means there is no evidence in the provided materials of organized opposition or amendment-driven compromise.

Contention

The main policy issue is who should be allowed to act as a school resource officer and carry a firearm in schools. Supporters of the bill would likely view the inclusion of retired law enforcement officers and honorably discharged veterans as a way to expand the pool of qualified school security personnel, especially where staffing shortages exist. Potential concerns center on whether nontraditional SROs have the same training, accountability, and law-enforcement authority as active officers, as well as whether schools can adequately define and supervise their roles. Privacy and data-handling compliance is another point of sensitivity, since the bill requires policies to address FERPA and other privacy laws when these personnel are employed.