Grants to bring SROs to schools across the state

JACKSON, Tenn. — Gov. Bill Lee has launched a new grant program for Tennessee schools.

The state is providing funding through grants for all schools in the state, both public and private, to have a full-time resource officer.

“This year, together with the General Assembly, we passed the school safety bill, created two important grant programs. The first will provide funding to place a full-time SRO in each public school. The second will provide critical funding to make physical security upgrades at public and non-public Tennessee schools,” Lee said.

Henderson County Sheriff Brian Duke said they plan to take advantage of these grants and explained how it will help.

“What we’ve been doing in the past is we’ve had five and four of the SROs bounce between schools. So now each school has their own full-time SRO,” Duke said.

Eddie Pruett, the Director of Schools for the Gibson County Special School District, shared how these grants will affect them monetarily.

“Originally, we were paying for six out of those seven SROs out of our general budget. So that frees up a significant amount of money,” Pruett said.

The state is providing roughly $200 million for these grants. These grants are also able to strengthen security in non-public schools.

Tennessee local law enforcement agencies are invited to apply here.

Public schools are invited to learn more and apply for grant funding here no later than September 29.

Non-public schools must submit an “Intent to Apply” through the Tennessee Department of Education by August 4 here. Final grant applications are due no later than October 27.

You can find more news from across the state here.