Warrick County schools have something new to add to their curriculum: improved safety measures. The schools have landed $185,000 in state funding dedicated to making campuses more secure. This comes as a slice of the broader $27 million pie that the state legislature has served up this year through the Secured School Safety Grant Program. State Reps. Cindy Ledbetter from Newburgh and Tim O'Brien of Evansville have relayed the details of this financial boon, which has been divvied up between 494 schools statewide.
According to what Ledbetter told Indiana House Republicans, the funds are earmarked for, "improving security" on school grounds. She conveys that the state legislature recognizes the gravity of a secure and conducive learning environment, and she believes these latest grants are a material testament to that acknowledgment. Notably, Evansville Christian School and Warrick County School Corp. each received a tidy sum of $92,500 to bolster their defenses.
O'Brien, who chairs the House Ways and Means K-12 Subcommittee, has expanded on the types of improvements this funding can underwrite. He listed out options like the employment of resource officers, procuring new safety tech and equipment, and building active event warning systems, among other things. "A quality education starts with providing a safe learning environment for our kids,” O'Brien asserted, reiterating that the grants are there to safeguard the county's most valuable assets—the students and educators.
Since the inception of the Secured School Safety Grant Program in 2013,, Indiana has poured in excess of $214 million into these state matching grants.
