The Texas School Safety Center is reporting 78 Texas school districts, including several in East Texas, either have failed to submit safety audits as required by law or don't meet full compliance.
Attorney General Greg Abbott said Monday the districts "can't let another second tick" without having a safety plan to deal with the possibility of school violence like the carnage in Connecticut.
The Texas School Safety Center was created in 1999 in the aftermath of the Columbine shootings in Colorado. The state education code requires public schools conduct safety audits once every three years.
Abbott's office says 38 of the state's 1,025 public school districts have filed no audit. Another 40 reported but aren't in compliance.
School districts in Cushing, Kennard, Martinsville, Timpson, Warren, West Sabine, Woden and Zavalla are listed among those not compliant.
"We didn't report it to the Texas School Safety Center," said Cushing Superintendent Michael Davis. "It's as simple as that. We definitely have a plan, a good one. We just failed to report it."
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