Schools officials say they're running low on retired police officers to hire for security guard gigs.

In 2012, the Butler School District started arming retired state troopers to serve as school guards in response to the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. That move drew wide attention to the school district and helped begin a ripple of similar actions in schools across the state.

Last year, the state Legislature codified the shift, allowing official school police forces in districts across the state.

During Monday night's school board meeting, Butler's directors and administrators grappled with one consequence of setting a trend: A lot of other districts followed.

“Butler started the concept of using retired troopers, and it's worked exceedingly well for us,” began Tom King, the district's solicitor.

“Except then everybody else started doing the same thing, so we can't get enough,” chimed in Al Vavro, a school director.

King, an armed guard advocate whose firm provides legal services for nearly every school district in Butler County, said he meant to make the same point as Vavro. He said there's a growing shortage of retired troopers and municipal police officers who want to take up a school security post in retirement.

State code allows for retired state troopers or municipal officers to carry guns as school officers. Other candidates, such as retired deputy sheriffs, can be on staff but aren't specified by law as being authorized to carry guns.

King described to the board a law change currently making its way through the state Legislature to ease the shortage. The Senate passed a version last week, and the House of Representatives' education committee began amending it Friday.

Among other wording changes, the draft bill allows retired sheriffs and their deputies, troopers, municipal police and military police to be hired as armed school security, according to the latest version available at the end of Tuesday.

In the state Senate, local Sens. Elder Vogel, R-47th; Scott Hutchinson, R-21st; and Joe Pittman, R-41st; cast affirmative votes.

Both the Butler and Mars school districts are in the middle of hiring school officers.

In Butler, the team is expanding to cover the Butler County Vocational-Technical School campus. Paul Epps, chief of the district's team, said he suspects the market will grow increasingly competitive as more districts switch to armed guards.

“There's no doubt about it,” Epps said. “It may hit the point where school districts are going to start out bidding other school districts.”

He agreed that currently there aren't many potential applicants to choose from, but that it's largely because of state police retirement cycles. In a year or so, he speculated, they may be inundated with applicants. Or they may not be, if the market grows significantly more competitive.

Epps said that as long as candidates come from law enforcement backgrounds, his team would happily branch from state troopers.

At Mars, the district is hiring new guards so that an armed officer can be in each of its five school buildings next school year. Two are Adams Township police officers, while three will be employed by the district.

Mars had a slow period in receiving applicants, but now has several good candidates in the interview process, according to Dayle Ferguson, school board president. She said Mars is only interested in hiring candidates who could carry guns on campus. She's open to that pool widening for future hires.

“Our world is changing, and we recognize that it's a challenge for one person to be spread across the district,” Ferguson said. “In this case, more is better.”