Navigating Funding for School Safety

There seems to be confusion around who is responsible for funding school safety. As we have mentioned many times, the two top obstacles to moving safety programs forward are time and money. While both time and money are budget concerns, they point to your district's priorities.

Recently, a survey of teachers was conducted, and their number one concern was, you guessed it, their safety. Again, we mention that we are twenty-six years past the Columbine High School tragedy, and the safety in our schools is still the number one concern. If that is the case, one might argue that school safety has not been our priority. If I am wrong here, our schools’ staff should feel very good about their safety. So, how do we increase their confidence in your ability to keep them safe? We need to build a comprehensive school safety program, and funding is part of that program. We need to develop a funding plan. In fact, funding plans should be a required component of your school safety plan! Here are a few things you should consider while putting your funding plan together:

• Assessments and priorities: To create a plan, you must first understand what you have and what is missing. This assessment should be complete and include all your safety systems, training, and policies. Determining your gaps allows you to research and determine the costs for filling those gaps. 
• Navigating grant applications and requirements: While grants are a funding source, they should not be considered your sole source of funding for your safety program. They should be regarded as a portion of your funding plan. Funding grants should align with your needs, not just what the grants seek to fund. Ensure you can meet the grant requirements for which you are applying. Some grants require matching funds, while others don’t. Many federal grants are meant to offset the initial cost of installing and implementing security and safety systems. They are not meant to fund your program in perpetuity. These grants are typically structured for three years to allow you time to build the cost of the systems into your general budgeting plan. Many state and local grants follow this same structure; seed money to buy the system, but not to support that system beyond the initial cost.
• Allocating funds for mandated safety measures while planning for long-term needs: Like safety, funding should be considered a long-term mandate for your schools and the district. Safety funding should have its own cost center, with individual line items, capital projects, recurring costs, replacement and maintenance, training (initial and new employee), refresher and remedial training, and alignment with your safety audit and assessment. 
• Gaining leadership or board approval for funding requests: As safety professionals, we must regularly educate our governing bodies on our safety programs and their needs. Funding becomes more manageable if they are educated and there is buy-in for your program. No one likes to be surprised, especially when it comes to funding. Safety is not cheap and requires a plan and focus. 
• Competing priorities within the school budget: For every dollar spent on safety, there is one less to spend on education. This is understood. There will be competing interests. Like many long-term projects, safety should be implemented with a phased approach. By setting your priorities and using your assessments, you can set your funding plan and priorities to align with the overall strategic plan for your district. The point is to make funding safety programs part of your budgeting process. If you are having difficulty getting started, look at your current budget and look at those items you are already funding that are safety related and move those items into the safety cost center: cameras, visitor management, access control, crisis communication, panic buttons, mapping, mental health support, safety director and other safety staff, etc.

In conclusion, safety funding and budgeting should be a part of your regular funding process. Conduct an assessment to determine what you have and what you need. Prioritize your needs and develop a plan to sustain your funding efforts for your safety program.