NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — "Nothing is more important than the safety of Tennessee students and teachers."
Those are words straight from Governor Bill Lee as he announced $200 million in grants to strengthen school security.
This means significant funding to support placing a full-time, armed school resource officer at every public school and making physical security improvements at both public and private schools. $140 million is going to add those armed SRO's and $54 million for security upgrades.
There are two grant programs: the Statewide school resource officer grant and Public and Non-public school security grants.
The grants can be used to support a variety of school security efforts, including improved physical security, emergency operations planning, violence prevention programs, conflict resolution and safety training for staff members.
For local law enforcement agencies, the school SRO grant does not to exceed $75,000 per year, per school for which they are responsible for providing SRO services.
In a pre-recorded statement, Governor Lee said there's more work to be done to protect the lives of students and school personnel.
"Nothing is more important than makings sure Tennessee students and teachers return home from school safely every day," he said. "Since 2019, we've done a lot of work to secure schools, but we're not done yet."
Public schools can learn about and apply for grant funding no later than September 29. Non-public schools must submit an intent to apply through the TN Department of Education by August 4th.
Final grant applications are due no later than October 27.
