The Franklin County School Board met in a regular session on Jan. 14 for updates on school safety, to consider assigning special resource officers (SROs) to all county schools, to vote on a resolution on a budget amendment for SROs and to review other resolutions on upcoming educational legislative issues.
Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the Franklin County sheriff’s department, city police departments and school supervisors have been reviewing safety issues in county schools.
Director of Schools Rebecca Sharber reported that police departments have gone to the schools and conducted a safety walk-through with the principals. Sheriff Tim Fuller will have a full report in the coming weeks on ways to improve organizational and facility safety.
“All the police departments (county and city) have made more of a presence known at the schools, whether it was driving by or entering the schools,” said Fuller. “This is a step to make all more comfortable with law enforcement in the schools.”
“The next step,” Fuller said, “is placing a special resource officer in all public county schools.”
“As of today, 39 counties in Tennessee are in the process of putting SROs in the public schools,” said Fuller. “This proposal is a good first step in increasing safety.”
The SROs will be post-certified police officers who have at least 3–5 years of experience. These officers will have both law enforcement training and special resource officer training. Fuller estimated it would take 30–45 days to get the SRO program implemented, once funding is in place.
Paying for the SROs the remainder of the year, from now through June, would come from the school board. Expenses for half a year of training and equipment are projected to be $170,000. The money for the remainder of the year would come from the state’s Basic Education Fund ($61,000) and the unassigned school board fund balance ($109,000). The county commission must approve taking this money from the fund balance. [See related story on page 1.]
“After June, a full year of the SRO program could cost approximately $350,000,” Fuller stated. That money would have to come from the county commission out of the sheriff department’s budget.
“To be clear, the money would come from our budget for this half of the year, and then the county would have to pay for the ongoing SRO program,” said Chris McDonough, fifth district school board member.
“School safety comes first and foremost, and armed guards at the school may be part of the solution,” he said. “We should table this proposal to have more conversations with the community and the teachers.
“We need to talk with all the people who will be affected by this program. We need the whole package, including more guidance counselors and social workers in the schools,” said McDonough.
“Are we comfortable with having SROs in all the schools?” school board chairman Kevin Caroland asked. “If so, then how do we pay for it? If we say ‘yes’ to this proposal, it has to be something that is going forward, not stopping in June.”
“If it does not go forward, then we have just spent $170,000 that could have been used elsewhere. We need a resolution from the county commission that they will fund this program 100 percent,” said Caroland.
By law, the county commission cannot raise property taxes until July.
“We are moving too hastily,” McDonough said. “I am not opposed to this program. We have just not talked with all concerned. Ultimately, this money is going to come from the taxpayers.”
“If we approve this resolution, and the commissioners accept this and their budget amendment, the county commission has just given a 5-cent tax increase to you with no discussion,” said McDonough.
The 5-cent property tax increase was the amount suggested by Fuller and county officials to fund the SROs in the future from the county budget.
“If the first step is the SRO program, then the next step is mental health,” said McDonough. “We need to put all of these in place at the same time.”
The board amended the language of the resolution to read “funding the SRO program is step one in a comprehensive package to include mental health and social workers, and funding perpetually.”
The school board passed this amended resolution by a vote of 8–0.
State Representative David Alexander said “the state was looking at three bills this legislative session dealing with guns.”
“One bill, HB0006, allows a board of education to have a teacher with a firearm and a training component in the school,” said Alexander. “Nothing is concrete, but the state is going to do something. They are not going to allow the status quo to stay the same.”
“Having more social workers and counselors would come from the school board budget,” said Sharber.
“The SRO is not a school position. Continued funding for this program is a community issue, not a school board issue.”
In other business, the school board approved the following items: a resolution against school vouchers, a resolution against the creation of an alternate authorizer to approve charter schools, and a resolution against electing, rather than appointing, superintendents of schools. These resolutions will be sent to Representative Alexander.
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