The Federal Commission on School Safety, created shortly after the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Fla., traveled all around the country this year holding public listening sessions to figure out how to reduce school violence. Several people in the meetings called for strengthening security by mandating clear backpacks, hiring more security officers, and arming public school teachers with guns. Others addressed the deeper issue: student mental health.

Likely because of this information, the Department of Justice recently started giving school districts more than $70 million in federal funding to improve school safety. Much of this funding went toward hiring more counselors and training teachers how to identify student mental health problems. But while these federal grants are well-intended, there may be a better solution.