Gov. Tim Walz signs school resource officer bill, placing new oversight on campus police programs

Police officers and sheriff’s deputies stationed in Minnesota public schools will soon be required to undergo special training and obtain state certification, under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Tim Walz directing the state’s Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to draft those rules.

The bill, passed by overwhelming majorities in both legislative chambers, was a priority for Democrats who were criticized last year for restricting officers’ ability to restrain children. Several law enforcement agencies pulled their officers off school campuses fearing civil litigation if they ran afoul of that law.

The new law, which takes effect Friday, lifts those restrictions and places school resource officers in a category separate from educators as part of the campus disciplinary system. Law enforcement leaders spent weeks meeting with legislators to hammer out the details of the package.

“As integral members of their school community, school resource officers serve students and teachers day in and day out,” Walz said in a news release. “This bill provides comprehensive guidance and clarity, allowing school resource officers to continue to do their jobs effectively.”

All told, about 40 agencies suspended their school resource officer programs as law enforcement leaders raised concerns in late August over the ban on student restraints. Many of them returned to schools after Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a pair of clarifications making clear to police officers that their training takes precedence over the law regulating how school officials may restrain students.

Those clarifications led some agencies to reinstate their school officer programs, though several opted to keep agents on general patrol. Minnesota has more than 300 public school districts.

The new law was meant to codify Ellison’s clarifications into law, DFL Rep. Cedrick Frazier of St. Paul said recently, and provide some standardization for school resource officer programs around the state. Until now, the parameters of their interactions with students were largely left to the contracts that individual school districts inked with law enforcement agencies.

Campus officers’ duties will include fostering a positive school climate; protecting students and educators from criminal activity; serving as a liaison between law enforcement agencies and school officials; providing input on school safety drills; educating students and staff on law enforcement topics; and enforcing criminal laws on school grounds.

Law enforcement agencies must officially adopt those policies by Sept. 1, 2025.

Leslie Rosedahl, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), said it will be up to individual agencies and school districts to decide when to reinstate their campus police programs. Some may wait until the new statewide policies are ready, and others may do so sooner.

“We know SROs are important positions for school safety and it’s our hope that they are returned as quickly as possible,” Rosedahl said in an email. “MPPOA is pleased the legislature fixed this law that should have never been changed in the first place.”

While some education activists lauded the regulatory aspects of the new law, they also took issue with its rollback of the ban on prone restraints, where the restrained person’s face and upper body point toward the ground. A coalition of educators and advocates who support the law’s regulatory edicts has said it strongly opposes the rollback of the ban.