One of the bill’s sponsors said she wants the families of teachers and staff to be taken care of financially in case the unthinkable happens.
“I pray to God that we never have to use the death benefit,” state Rep. Mary Heath, a Democrat who is also a retired teacher, told CNN.
Heath said she gets “teary-eyed” just thinking about all of the school shootings. “It’s so disturbing to think that children can’t be safe in schools,” she said.
Heath was an educator for 42 years and her daughter is a teacher. She said they talked about the recent shootings and agreed “in a heartbeat we would all stand up to protect our students.”
The death-benefit measure was included in a $10 million bill to improve security in the state’s public schools, Heath said.
Source : CNN
