"This advocate should be right here in this district, right here in Philadelphia, where anyone can come in," Taylor told reporters at a news conference Monday.
In addition to fully funding the office, Taylor and Keller's legislation would assign the office to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to make it more independent. The position formerly reported to the state Department of Education.
Taylor and Keller were coauthors of the 2000 law establishing the Safe Schools Advocate office, hailed at the time as the first of its kind in the nation. But the office was closed in August 2009 - over problems in funding, officials said then, though Taylor and others have said the closure was political.
Jack Stollsteimer, the advocate in 2009, had a contentious relationship with the Department of Education. Its officials said he spent too much time prosecuting the district and not enough time on victim support.
Stollsteimer said officials were out to get him because he was critical of the district and the state. The state denounced his report, refused to release it, and put out its own version, which reached essentially the same conclusions.
The announcement came as The Inquirer is publishing a seven-part series on school violence. The investigation has found widespread violence that stifles learning; pressure to underreport incidents; and failure to spread effective violence-prevention programs.
Taylor said he and Keller have been working to reopen the office since it was closed. Jack Wagner, Pennsylvania's auditor general, has also called on the state to reopen the office.
Funding the office "is not a suggestion that we made," Taylor said. "This is in statute."
