Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

A bill approved May 17, 2023 by the Wisconsin Assembly in a vote of 56 to 36 includes a provision that would require Milwaukee Public Schools to hire 25 school resource officers to be present at schools. An amendment requires officers to complete a 40-hour training course. The bill will now be considered by the Senate.

Milwaukee Public Schools previously paid officers to patrol outside its buildings and events, but ended its contract with the Milwaukee Police Department in 2020 in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd.

School resource officers are sworn law enforcement officers and are typically armed, according to the National Association of School Resource Officers. The association estimates that about 20% of all K-12 schools in the U.S. have school resource officers.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Wisconsin State Legislature Assembly Bill 245 | History

Wisconsin State Legislature Assembly Bill 245 | Text

Wisconsin State Legislature Assembly Amendment 2, to Assembly Bill 245

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel MPS board votes to end contracts for police outside buildings and at events

National Association of School Resource Officers FAQs

Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Tom Kertscher joined as a Wisconsin Watch fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has worked as a self-employed journalist since 2019. His gigs include contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.