New state budget contains $60 million for school security

Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — Starting this fall, school districts and community groups can apply for a chunk of $60 million in new funding to improve safety and security on their campuses.

The funding, approved Friday by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf, was a key piece of the $32.7 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 and comes after another year of fatal school shootings and other violence.

The funding is meant to be proactive and reactive, lawmakers said. School districts can use the money for hiring police officers or school psychologists, adding metal detectors, or paying for violence-prevention programs or other initiatives. Many of the programs are required to take into account how violence and other trauma affects children.

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said school safety funding was the Legislature’s “No. 1 priority” in the budget.

To distribute the funds, a committee will be established within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. It will then assess the needs of each district that applies.

“It’s long overdue that we make this investment,” Rep. Maria Donatucci, D-Philadelphia, said at a news conference Friday.

To ensure the money is spread evenly, districts can receive no more than 10 percent of the total available funds each year. That includes big school districts like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Each eligible school district that applies is guaranteed at least $25,000 toward its safety and security. The Legislature hopes to add funds each year.

Up to 12.5 percent of the funds — about $7.5 million this coming fiscal year — can be dedicated to programs focused on reducing community violence. These support programs include ones that promote communication between communities and law enforcement, provide health services, or increase access to behavioral health care.

The funding is a “hallelujah moment,” said Sen. Anthony H. Williams, D-Philadelphia.

But some advocates, including the Education Law Center, said they were concerned with how each district will spend the money.

“The additional funds for student safety programs are in response to the nation’s tragic school shootings,” according to a news release. “But we caution that putting armed personnel in schools is not an appropriate or effective solution to school and community violence. And we have seen too many examples where heightened school policing leads to harsher punitive measures aimed at black and brown students.”