The Ohio Senate unanimously approved a bill, sponsored by state Sen. Al Cutrona, to permit private schools in townships to contract with local law enforcement for resource officers as a result of an issue in Poland Township.

After Wednesday’s 32-0 vote in the Senate, Cutrona, R-Canfield, said: “The safety of our students must always come first. Senate Bill 318 ensures that chartered nonpublic schools have access to the same trusted school resource officer services that help keep students, teachers and families safe every day. This legislation closes an unnecessary gap in the law and gives schools the ability to work with local law enforcement to provide the protection their communities deserve. I’m proud to support this common-sense measure and see it pass the Senate.”

Holy Family School, a pre-K through grade 8 school in Poland, has a contract with the township police department for a school resource officer. The legality of the contract — and others like it — came into question when Attorney General Dave Yost determined in a Sept. 16 legal opinion that townships that don’t have home rule lack “authority to directly enter into a memorandum of understanding with a chartered nonpublic school to provide school resource officer services to the school” under state law.

The legal opinion was in response to a question from the Stark County prosecutor about a charter school in Lake Township.

Cutrona introduced the bill Nov. 5 after Poland Township police contacted him concerned about the impact of the legal opinion. The police department was in the final year of a three-year memorandum of understanding with Holy Family when the issue was raised.

Cutrona said: “Schools like Holy Family will continue to have the ability to have Poland Township police as a SRO.”

Among those testifying in front of the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 17 in favor of Cutrona’s bill were Greg Wilson, Poland Township police chief; Township trustee Eric Ungaro; Tod Morris, Holy Family School principal; and Heinz von Eckartsberg, chairman of the Ohio Association of Chief of Police’s legislative committee.

No one testified in opposition to the bill.

During Morris’ testimony, he said: “The safety of our children is not a partisan issue nor is it limited to public institutions. Every child in Ohio deserves a secure learning environment, regardless of the type of school they attend. Allowing townships to extend security services to private and chartered schools strengthens the safety net for all students and reinforces the shared responsibility we hold for protecting our communities.”

During Wilson’s testimony, he said of Cutrona’s bill: “This language would not mandate services, expand police powers or require additional state funding. It would simply restore clarity and consistency by allowing township police departments, with formal approval from their elected township trustees, to enter into structured memorandums of understanding to provide school resource officer services within their jurisdiction.”