UVALDE, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling for a special legislative committee to convene on school safety in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, but for some victims’ families, it’s history repeating itself.
When Scot and Flo Rice got the news about the Uvalde shooting, they were out of town. The couple was trying to spend some time away the week after the 4th anniversary of the Santa Fe High School shooting.
“It just brings you back to that day and you relive your tragedy," said Scot.
They still live with what happened on May 18, 2018, every day. Flo was a substitute teacher when she was shot at Santa Fe High School.
While she was still in the hospital, Scot drove to Austin to participate in roundtables hosted by Gov. Abbott.
“I just don’t think it really amounted to anything," he said.
Here we are four years later, and the governor sent a letter to lawmakers calling for a special legislative committee to review all the same issues again.
“We don’t need any more committees, I don’t want to hear that, the answers are here already, we just need to do something," Scot said.
He said it’s frustrating because, after Santa Fe, there was legislation passed. It was sold as comprehensive school safety.
“What we didn’t know is that Senate Bill 11 doesn’t have an enforceable entity that can go to the schools and hold them accountable," he said.
Governor Abbott is also calling for the Texas School Safety Center to audit schools across the state, but that’s something already being done.
When KHOU 11 reviewed documents at the center run by Texas State University, we found they publish audits every three years. In their latest one, published in 2020, it shows that of the 1,022 districts reviewed – only 200 had a viable active shooter policy.
Rice says clearly there is more work to do.
“There’s going to be enough outrage in Uvalde that my hope is they can no longer kick this can down the road," he said.
The governor is asking for a progress report on the audit by October 1. The Rice family told KHOU 11 they have already made one trip to Uvalde and plan to go back to offer support in any way they can.