Minnesota communities have spent the last few years debating the role of police in schools.

Conference committees usually convene to work out differences in a compromise between House and Senate bills. A conference committee on school resource officer bills in the House and Senate reached a compromise Tuesday by essentially disregarding a Senate bill and sending the original House bill back to the floors of each chamber.

It took about eight minutes Tuesday morning to resolve what should be the final piece in providing clarity to school resource officers. A conference committee on HF3489 quickly approved an agreement that it is expected to be before both the House and Senate later this week.

A hot issue so far this legislative session has been what kinds of restraints police officers should be allowed to use when they work in schools. A bill allowing police officers to use a “prone” — face down — hold on students passed the House earlier this week and is headed to the Senate floor after passing the Finance Committee Thursday.

Months of negotiations between legislators, school officials and the law enforcement community have led to agreement in the House on an updated school resource officer policy. The House passed HF3489, sponsored by Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL–New Hope), 124-8 Monday. It now heads to the Senate.

Rep. Zack Stephenson presents HF3488, a bill that would address compensation for minors appearing in Internet content, to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee Feb. 15.

School buildings across Minnesota might soon have to stock medication to reverse an opioid overdose as the state grapples with a spike in deaths, including among children, tied to the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Wright County currently has the largest SRO group in Minnesota.

School gun violence in Minnesota has increased in frequency in recent years.