GARDEN VALLEY, Idaho – A rural Idaho school district that opted to arm staff to protect students against an active shooter is inspiring other school districts to follow suit.

Garden Valley School District board members in 2014 approved a measure that allows guns kept in safes around campus to be used by specially trained faculty volunteers in the event of an emergency. The move came amid concerns about a roughly 45 minute response time for authorities, KIVI reports.

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“We don’t want to bring a ruler to a gun fight,” Garden Valley superintendent Greg Alexander told the news site.

The change immediately prompted interest from numerous other rural school district’s across the country, and Garden Valley officials presented their program at meetings for the Idaho School Board Association meetings.

“Other district are asking us from all over the United States about how we do it,” Alexander said.

Board member Alan Ward said “it feels good to be part of a good positive program that is built around safety for students.”

After more than three years with the plan in place, other school districts are also considering the move.

Similar policies are currently under consideration in the Mountain View school district, as well as other districts in Salmon River, Cottonwood, and Kamiah, according to The Spokesman-Review.

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In Mountain View, arming school staff makes sense because the district cannot afford school resource officers at all six of its schools, a roughly $300,000 expense.

“I don’t know the exact dollar amount but I know it’s substantially less than other options we looked at,” Mountain View board member Mike Dominguez told KIVI. “We have a school in Elk City that has no law enforcement in town other than the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office and if they’re not there, it could take an hour to an hour and 45 minutes to respond and we just felt that that doesn’t give our kids the safety that they need.”

Dominguez and other board members spent the last few months reviewing a proposed policy to arm employees and addressing possible concerns, such as which school staff would carry the weapons, and when they would be permitted to use them.

Dominguez told the Spokesman-Review no employees would be required to participate in the program, and those who do would receive firearms training from the Idaho County Sheriff’s Office to carry a concealed gun on campus.

Those who carry the weapons would be required to keep them concealed or locked up during school, and could only use them during serious emergencies.

“They’re not going to use it because some student got out of hand,” he said.

Details from the plan would be shielded from the public as a safety precaution, if approved, he said, though the public will undoubtedly be well informed about the policy.

In Garden Valley, signs that greet visitors read: “Trained staff members are legally armed, and can use whatever force necessary to protect students and staff.”