Texas school districts asked to submit safety plans after Connecticut massacre

Supporters of gun control legislation hold candles and placards during a rally to pay respect for the shooting victims in front of the White House in Washington, capital of the United States, Dec. 14, 2012. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun)

A top official in the U.S. state of Texas on Monday urged school districts in the state to review their safety plans and implored those that have failed to do so to catch up.

Seventy-eighty Texas school districts either have failed to submit safety audits as required by law or do not meet full requirements, according to a report by the local TV channel KHOU. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Monday the state's school districts "can't let another second tick" without having a safety plan to deal with the possibility of school violence like the massacre in Connecticut. "Proper preparedness and safety in our schools is not just an exercise, it will save lives when seconds count," said Abbott, who is a board member of the Texas School Safety Center.

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 to conduct safety audits once every three years.

Thirty-eight of the state's 1,025 public school districts have filed no audit, while another 40 districts reported but did not meet full compliance, KHOU quoted Abbott's office as reporting.

A shooting spree on Friday morning at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, left 28 people dead, including 20 children aged 6 to 7 being killed.