Ohio Supreme Court: Armed School Employees Must Have Training

School districts that allow employees to be armed must also require police-level training for those workers, a divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled on June 23 in a victory for a group of parents who challenged a local district’s armed employee policy.

At issue before the court was a directive adopted by Madison Local Schools in southwestern Ohio after a 2016 shooting, in which two students were shot and wounded by a 14-year-old boy. A group of parents sued the district in September 2018 to prevent teachers from being armed without extensive training.

A Butler County judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying that school staffers did not need such training because they are not law enforcement officers. The district’s policy requires 24 hours of training for staff carrying concealed weapons.

The parents appealed to the 12th District Court of Appeals, which ruled last March that Ohio law requires anyone who carries firearms in schools to have undergone a minimum of 728 hours of law enforcement training.

Nothing in Ohio law allows districts to circumvent the law’s training requirement, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor wrote for the four-justice majority.

The statute prohibits schools from employing someone who is armed while on duty “unless the employee has satisfactorily completed an approved basic peace-officer-training program or has 20 years of experience as a peace officer,” O’Connor wrote.

Three justices dissented, saying they believed Ohio law does allow the arming of teachers without the extra training.

“If the General Assembly had wished to prohibit nonsecurity personnel, like teachers, from carrying weapons while on school property without the required training, it could have done so and may still do so,” wrote Justice Pat Fischer.

A bill pending in the Ohio House would exempt school employees from the training requirement.

Parents maintain the state appeals court made the correct decision, saying state law is clear that schools can’t permit the arming of employees who don’t go through police officer training.