The bill repeals the state’s previous requirement for 700 hours of training, in the face of objections from teacher groups.
The US state of Ohio will pass a law allowing teachers and other staff to carry firearms in schools after they have completed initial training for up to 24 hours.
Advocates hope armed teachers will reduce the frequency and lethality of school shootings, which have become repeat in the United States.
Opponents of the bill, including the state’s main teachers union and police union, say it would only do School is more dangerous for children.
The bill was finalized 10 days after a teenager armed with an AR-15-style rifle attacked a school in Uvalde, Texas. Nineteen students and two teachers was killed in the massacre.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, said he would sign the bill into law.
The bill was approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly this week.
It is designed to overturn a ruling last year by the Ohio Supreme Court. The ruling said a longstanding state law requires teachers to complete more than 700 hours in a peace officer training program before they can be armed with a firearm on school premises.
Supporters of the bill say it would allow school staff to confront an armed attacker first the police get involved.
Representative Thomas Hall, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement: “During emergency situations at our schools, moment problems and tragedies can be averted.
Armed teachers will be required to have a criminal background check and receive an additional eight hours of training each year thereafter.
DeWine said in a statement that the governor’s office has been working with legislators since the Uvalde shooting “to eliminate hundreds of hours of unrelated curriculum school safetyand to ensure training requirements are specific to the school environment”.
The Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers said in a joint statement that the bill hasty and risky.
The bill, they say, puts “educationalists in a position where they cannot make life-or-death decisions in a split second without adequate training. This could certainly lead to more tragedies in our schools.”
Under the new law, school districts will have to notify parents if they decide to allow armed teachers on school grounds. It was not immediately clear how many school districts would choose to allow teachers to be armed.
