As the second anniversary of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde approaches Friday, a San Antonio City Council committee reviewed the city’s existing efforts to prevent and respond to similar mass shootings.
The hour-long discussion produced some ideas on how to improve security at schools, but there was not a clear path forward for any concrete action or funding beyond what the city is already doing.
San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus assured the committee that the department is prepared to respond to mass shootings — and will establish command if they are called to such a scene — but said prevention and on-site security measures at schools are largely beyond the department’s jurisdiction.
“There is nothing that we haven’t done to prepare for an active threat situation,” McManus told the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. “[Officers] have the capability and capacity to respond to any threat anywhere in the city — [at] schools, businesses, hospitals, wherever.”
After the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, coordination between SAPD and area school districts “stepped up 100-fold,” McManus said, noting that the department has 92 liaison officers that work with nearly 45 school districts, charter and universities.
More than 70 schools and organizations in Bexar County have started using LifeSpot, an emergency communication app that McManus says is quicker than calling 911.
“I have full faith and confidence in our police officers that, God forbid something like that happened in San Antonio, I think [SAPD would handle it in] the best possible way,” said Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6), who chairs the committee.
“We probably need to talk more seriously about the city’s legislative agenda including more school funding … [including] security,” she said. The city maintains a list of issues it lobbies state legislatures about throughout its sessions.
Texas House Bill 3, which took effect in September 2023, required active shooter training for certain school personnel statewide and an armed security officer at each campus — but gives an exemption for schools that cannot afford it.
On the prevention side of school safety conversation, city staff said there are mass shooting prevention strategies already part of its Violence Prevention Plan that prioritizes gun violence, youth-on-youth violence, sexual violence and domestic violence.
The plan includes addressing the root causes of violence related to social, economic, and health inequities, or so-called “upstream” prevention, Erica Haller-Stevenson, a public health administrator, told the committee. And that will take collaboration with school districts, law enforcement, Bexar County and other agencies such as nonprofits, she added.
During fiscal years 2023-2024, the city will invest about $14 million in coronavirus recovery funds into youth mental health programs in addition to $1 million of its general fund budget, she said: “Right now, we’re kind of operating at the highest capacity that we’ve ever seen for school-based services and for free youth mental health services in our community.”
But that federal funding is going to run out, Cabello Havrda noted. “And $1 million in the general fund is a drop in the bucket.”
‘Lack of imagination’
The discussion Tuesday was formally initiated last year by Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), who called for the city to “adopt and meaningfully fund an evidence-based and expert-guided mass shooting prevention and response plan for local schools.”
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), suggested the possibility of hiring an outside expert to analyze the Violence Prevention Plan.
Councilman Marc Whyte suggested the city should fund more armed security at schools, but it’s unclear if that’s legally feasible.
Those suggestions did not garner broad support among the committee members. There were no formal recommendations from city staff.
Pelaez, who is running for mayor, said the city isn’t doing enough quickly enough.
“What a lack of imagination and courage to say: we’re doing everything we can,” he told the San Antonio Report after the meeting.
The city could help schools pay for security enhancements or extend 911 services to campuses during the evening, saving district police departments time and money, he said.
The city has given millions of dollars to companies to relocate here, he noted, and “we’ll give the NCAA Final Four a ton of money to throw their parties here … but what we’re not willing to do is spend a single penny on helping schools harden.”
But the city and its police department aren’t turning a blind eye to school security, said Cabello Havrda, who is also considering a run for mayor, after the meeting.
“What brings me comfort is that there is a good communication and relationship between our police department and our [independent school district] police departments,” she said. “That’s something we saw in Uvalde that broke down terribly.”
The city could assist with vulnerability assessments of school campuses, offer more active shooter trainings or support the district in other ways that don’t involve investing its own budget in school district security, she said.
“There’s no way our city budget can cover every school,” she said. “We have to lobby our state.”
City estimations have the 2025 budget facing a $10.6 million deficit.
However, Cabello Havrda said she plans on bringing the school safety issue back to the committee in the future and is “open to ideas” about ways the city can help.
