In response to new legislation signed into law Friday by Gov. Rick Scott tightening security measures to ensure student safety, the Citrus County School Board approved funding that would allow for school resource officers at every school in the district.
Tuesday night the school board voted to ask the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office to split the cost of $165,251 to pay for the additional SRO’s through the end of this school year.
Next year is when the cost is expected to increase significantly for the district. The cost to pay for five school resource officers for the entire year adds up to an estimated $132,201 per officer. That includes their salary, their weapon, equipment, and a patrol vehicle.
In addition to the school resource officers, the school district plans to hire a sergeant and a backup school resource officer, who will be able to fill in when the others are out.
Here's how it would break down:
Total cost for the five SRO's next year would be just over $661,005.
When you add in the cost for a sergeant and the backup officer, it comes close to a million dollars, or $943,801.
Superintendent Sandra Himmel says she wishes they would have had money in the budget to provide more SRO's sooner.
"Education first and safety always, and that's always been a priority of ours. Anytime something happens we review our plans, we meet with the board, we bring our safety people back to make sure we're doing the right things," she said.
The superintendent says instead of arming school employees through a guardian program, all of the money allotted from the state will go to the sheriff's office to pay for the school resources officers.
Money to pay for funding for this year will come out of the school district’s reserves. The school district’s yearly budget begins July 1st. They are set to discuss the additional funding for next year as part of renegotiations of their contract with the Sheriff’s office. Those negotiations are set to begin in a couple weeks.
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