Pence restores some funding for school safety grant program

Gov. Mike Pence on Friday announced he’s restoring some funding to a grant program that helps schools afford safety initiatives after it faced a hefty cut in the current state budget.

Referencing last week’s shooting at an Oregon college that left nine people and the gunman dead, the Republican governor directed $3.5 million in additional dollars to the grant program. That brings the total amount of funding this year for the program to more than $9 million, according to the Pence administration.

But the move doesn’t go as far as restoring the full 65 percent reduction in funding the program saw in the new state budget. The original budget gave $7 million over two years for the program, down from the $20 million in the last budget, which was when the program was created.

“Indiana was one of the first states to establish and fund a statewide program specifically designed with school safety in mind, and these additional funds will help ensure that Hoosier schools have resource officers to provide on-site security and quickly respond to threats,” Pence said in a statement. “Providing resources to create and maintain protected school campuses for Indiana’s students is critical to the well-being of our state and its citizens. We have no higher priority than to ensure the security of our children and faculty at our schools.”

Pence had included the budget cut in his original proposal that he provided to lawmakers for their consideration. The cut ultimately passed in the final budget endorsed by the Republican-controlled Indiana General Assembly.

According to the governor’s office, the funding reduction in the new state budget represented dollars no longer needed because they went to one-time capital projects.

“With an additional $471 million in tuition support funding, schools had the flexibility to allocate these dollars as well to meet their needs,” according to the governor’s office.

Indiana State Teachers Association President Teresa Meredith said she was happy to see the governor restore some of the funding. But she argued the state needs to do a better job addressing another critical need.

“What is happening with child services and finding a way to get better services in place to support kids who have real true mental health issues,” Meredith said. “That’s huge and if we don’t begin to address that piece, we are going to continue to see violence.”

The program provides matching grants to help schools afford resource officers as well as equipment to restrict access to school property and alert local law enforcement when needed. The funds also are used to conduct threat assessments for schools.

The additional dollars for the program are being provided by excess state Department of Homeland Security  funding, according to Stephanie Hodgin, a Pence spokeswoman. Homeland Security reverted about $22,000 of its budget during the last fiscal year that ended in June, according to state records.

Of the more than $9 million now available for the program this year, $2 million was left over  when schools didn't spend all the money they were awarded.  For now, the $3.5 million is a one-time infusion of funding limited to the current fiscal year.

Call Star reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea.