Many Texas school districts haven't hired armed security officers at every campus, as required by a new state law, because of a lack of funding.

Why it matters: After 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, the Republican-led Legislature passed new mental health and school safety standards last year.

• A key provision was posting an armed officer at every public school, writes Axios' Fiza Kuzhiyil.

Catch up quick: House Bill 3, which went into effect in September, expanded and reinforced school safety efforts, such as required mental health training.

• The law allocated $15,000 per campus and $10 for each student, but lawmakers did not approve an additional $800 million to help districts comply with the standards.
• That left many districts without enough money to hire additional officers, according to the Texas Association of School Boards.

Yes, but: School districts can vote for a good-cause exception to the rule by providing an alternative safety plan if they can't afford personnel or can't find qualified candidates.

Zoom in: Dallas, Houston and San Antonio are among the school districts that have sought good-cause exceptions, each approving alternative safety plans like ​​employing school marshals.

• In Burleson, the district has hired retired police officers instead of private security guards to serve on school campuses, per the Star-Telegram.

The big picture: It's not clear how many districts have hired a security officer at each campus.

• The Texas Education Agency does not require districts to share compliance information, and no entity tracks how many schools in the state use good-cause exceptions to comply with the law.

The bottom line: Two decades ago, 108 school districts in Texas had their own police departments.

• Now, 400 districts, or about a third of districts in Texas, employ officers.

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Perseverance is roving Mars to collect rocks and search for signs of ancient life on the red planet — and its twin is in Dallas.

The latest: The Perot Museum of Nature and Science has a Perseverance model on display with the rover's latest pictures of Mars and details about the space mission.

• The museum also has models of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and the Mars Ascent Vehicle, which is meant to store samples until a possible return to Earth.

State of orbit: NASA has sent about 20 spacecraft to Mars since the 1960s, mapping the planet and detailing the ground using rovers.

• The current mission, Mars Sample Return, is a joint effort with the European Space Agency to bring soil back and study the possibility of ancient life.

Friction point: The program may be on shaky ground. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory laid off about 8% of its workforce in January, citing congressional budgetary concerns.

• NASA will get a minimum of $300 million for the mission in funding approved last week by Congress.
• But that's a sharp drop from the nearly $823 million the space agency spent on the program last year, per the LA Times.

What Perseverance has found: The rover captured a photo of the silhouette of Phobos — one of the red planet's two moons — passing in front of the sun on the 1,056th Martian day of the mission.

• The roving scientist has collected 23 Mars rock and soil samples.
• In December, it completed an expedition through a river delta that showed a lake filled Jezero Crater billions of years ago.

If you go...

Speaking of cool things to do with your kids, now might be a good time to invest in annual memberships to occupy your child for Spring Break and throughout the year.

• Memberships make great birthday gifts, too.

Pro tips: Check if your city's library or arts department offers free or discounted admission to paid activities. Dallas' Culture Pass covers several performing arts venues.

• And, some Dallas places offer "Kids Club" discounts for members at partner organizations.

Our suggestions based on your child's budding interests…

🔬 The scientist: The Perot Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and the Heard Museum in McKinney all have annual memberships that accommodate adults and their kids.

🎨 The artist: Annual passes at the Crayola Experience in Plano and Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine start under $50 per person.

• Many of the exhibits at the Dallas Museum of Art are already free, but members get extra perks.

More...

📑 About 2,000 pages of new information have been released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation into the 2022 air show crash that killed six people. The board has not declared a cause of the incident. (DMN)

🐘 Fort Worth has opened all six lanes of University Drive, which has been undergoing maintenance, to accommodate spring break traffic heading to the zoo. (Star-Telegram)

🏈 Running back Tony Pollard won't be returning to the Dallas Cowboys this year after reportedly signing a three-year deal with the Tennessee Titans. (WFAA)

💼 Check out who's hiring on our Job Board.

1. AVP, Release Management at Bank OZK.
2. Director of Enterprise Communications at Guidestone Financial Resources.
3. Sr. Director, Statistical Programming at RegenxBio.

Want more opportunities? Check out our Job Board.

Hiring? Use code FIRST50 for $50 off your first job post.

Our Axios Texas social media guru is beginning a quest to visit every gas station taqueria his mileage budget can handle.

Greg Castillo is going to rate the tacos in one of three ways: "keep driving," "worth stopping for" and "worth going out of your way."

• He will post more on our fledgling Instagram account. Follow here.

The latest: The first stop was at Garland's Twisted Trompo, which also has a Dallas location.

What to order: Three taco combo with rice and refried beans. He ordered al pastor, chicken and steak on corn tortillas.

Where: Twisted Trompo, 3036 Broadway Blvd. in Garland.

Cost: $10.81

Six-word verdict: Worth going out of your way.

🤔 Know a great gas station taco we should try? Hit reply and tell us.