The increase comes amid a heated debate over whether teachers and other school officials should carry guns

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Armed security officers are becoming more prevalent at America’s schools, according to a federal study released Thursday amid a heated debate over whether teachers and other school officials should carry guns.

Armed officers were present at least once a week in 43% of all public schools during the 2015-16 school year, compared with 31% of schools a decade before, according to data from a survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school put renewed focus on the role of armed school security guards, after Donald Trump spoke out in favor of them and a video emerged showing that a sheriff’s deputy at the school did not enter the building where the attack was taking place.

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The study came out a day after Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, kicked off a controversial federal school safety panel on the topic. DeVos, already under fire for pushing the cause of private and charter schools at the expense of public schools and fumbling questions about failing schools, supports the option of arming teachers.

“There has been an increase in security staff in school over the last 10 years and it’s more pronounced at the primary school level,” said Lauren Musu-Gillette, lead author of the report.

Experts are divided on whether it makes schools safer.

Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Council, said trained officers carrying weapons can help prevent a shooting inside the school and deter a possible shooter from entering.

Ron Astor, an education professor at University of Southern California, said that putting weapons in schools will make them akin to prisons, intimidate children and hurt their studies. Instead, he says, research has shown that violence, bullying and the use of drugs and guns is reduced in warm, caring environments focused on providing support to students.

“We don’t want to live in neighborhoods where there are thousands of police officers or the military,” Astor said.