AUSTIN (KXAN) — In 2022, the state started conducting random security audits at schools around Texas following the school shooting at Robb Elementary.
The random checks ensure schools are following the best safety practices.
Gov. Greg Abbott initially tasked the Texas State School Safety Center to conduct the audits, but this year the Texas Education Agency (TEA) took over.
“Our charter was to visit 100% of campuses around Texas,” said John Scott, chief of school safety and security with TEA.
State data focuses on what they call “findings.” This is a term meaning specific safety issues on campuses — which are things like unlocked doors or someone not getting checked into a school properly. These findings have decreased over the years.
“The findings have dropped almost 10%,” Scott said.
What happens if TEA finds safety issues and the school fails the safety audit?
“They have to take action on those,” Scott said. “Some of the action they have to take is report that to the school board. They also have to report it to their school safety committee.”
The district or school must then complete corrective action within 60 days of being notified.
Scott said all the schools that have had issues have corrected them after they were identified.
On Thursday, Austin Independent School District listed “Notice of Intruder Detection Audit” on its school board agenda.
Under that section, the post said that the TEA conducted audits at 24 schools in the month of September and October. It went on to say that at least seven schools in the district failed to meet all standards during the audit and must complete corrective actions within 60 days.
KXAN asked AISD for more specifics about the schools that failed to meet standards. A district spokesperson said, “As you can understand, answering these questions poses a safety and security risk to the district.”
“I understand a parent’s concern about wanting to know,” Scott said. “The problem with making it public is a specific school or school district that have findings is you can make that school appear to not be as safe.”
For more data and findings from the TEA click here.
