By Steve Berg
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — State School Superintendent Lindel Fields is throwing his support behind two lawmakers’ bills, one that provides more funding for school safety and another that would create a permanent cell phone ban.
Senate Bill 1189 extends school security funding, $50 million each year for three more years, that would go toward hiring more school resource officers and upgrading security equipment and infrastructure.
Senate Bill 1719 would reinforce an existing the statewide ‘bell to bell’ cell phone ban, by removing language that currently gives local school districts’ the option to change their policy after this school year.
Fields says he’s offering his encouragement to get both measures passed, saying families deserve to know kids are safe and saying that cell phones are a distraction to kids’ ability to learn.
