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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Schools across the state have been able to receive school safety grant money since the end of June, and a recently released report shows just how much money each system will be receiving.
Governor Lee made two grants available: one to provide an armed school resource office for each public school building and the other to fund safety upgrades for buildings. The money can also be used for professional development such as conflict resolution and violence prevention training.
In order to be eligible for funding, schools are required to submit an emergency plan to both the Tennessee Department of Education and the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Those plans must provide details regarding how the school will handle a crisis situation, as well as what safety upgrades they plan to put into effect.
Fox 17 News was able to obtain a list of how much funding has been set aside for each county and published that list on their website. The funding is still pending, awaiting final approval of applications and emergency plans. As of August 14, 27 of the 1700 applications have been approved for public and charter schools. 370 private schools have also applied for funding.
For safety reasons, many of the school systems are not making their updated safety plans public knowledge. However, some school districts have made announcements regarding portions of their upgrades, in an effort to make parents and the public aware of their efforts to increase safety on their campuses.
Some schools have released information about the addition of security scanners at school entrances, as well as the installation of bullet resistant window coverings and extra security presence at schools.
Below is a brief overview of money that is set to be received by several school districts in each region. For the complete listing, refer to this report.
East TN:
- Athens City Schools: $68,197.96
- Bledsoe County Schools: $64,120.80
- Bradley County Schools: $411,224.95
- Cleveland City Schools: $231,205.22
- Dayton City Schools: $32,562.25
- Hamilton County Schools: $1,763,005.27
- Marion County Schools: $157,016.54
- McMinn County Schools: $204,416.51
- Meigs County Schools: $69,834.70
- Polk County Schools: $83,760.09
- Rhea County Schools: $163,249.32
- Sequatchie County Schools: $80,477.34
Middle TN:
- Davidson County $2,625,359
- Williamson County $1,717,842
- Sumner County $1,249,347
- Rutherford County- $2,067,876
- Maury County $526,014
- Robertson County $462,824
- Cheatham County $233,642
- Wilson County $828,965
- Montgomery County $1,571,263
- Dickson County $321,264
West TN:
- Shelby County $3,510,979
- Germantown $243,438
- Dyersburg City $100,794
- Dyer County- $144,204
- Madison County $485,824
- Tipton County $406,511
- Weakley County $158,626
- Lauderdale County $133,012
- Obion County $123,169
- Crockett County $80,129
