Towards the end of this year’s session, the legislature rejected the State Board of Education request to continue to provide funding for security grants and instead gave the Attorney General’s office money to be used for video gun detection program no districts requested. The SBOE is now requesting the legislature restore the funding for the securty program.
“The board this week agreed to ask lawmakers to approve $15 million to fully fund a program that had been flooded with requests from school districts over the years. The Legislature had started funding the program at about $5 million in the aftermath of a 2018 shooting that killed 17 people at a Florida high school.
“However, the Legislature stopped funding the grants last session and allocated $10 million instead for another initiative to equip public buildings with surveillance cameras with artificial intelligence that can locate people carrying guns…
“In the past, the State Department of Education received far more applications than it could fund with money allocated for the grants…The money that year could only be used for security infrastructure, security technology, communications for security, new school resource officers and Narcan kits that could be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
“The grants had a dollar-for-dollar match requirement.
“Education Commissioner Randy Watson cautioned the board about the potential threats facing schools.”
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Originally posted to Facebook on 7/14/25.