Rick Patrick, ECB Publishing, Inc.
In the wake of the tragic shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February in Parkland, FL, much discussion has taken place about School Resource Officers (SROs).
An SRO could be looked at as a uniformed law-enforcement officer – either a sheriff's deputy or city police officer – who is assigned to a school. These officers often serve many functions, but the primary one is to provide security for the students, faculty and school employees during school hours.
Following the Parkland school shooting, the Florida Legislature passed legislation that would, among other things, increase the number of School Resource Officers in Florida schools.
In a Major Action Plan dated Feb. 23, Governor Rick Scott proposed $450 million for the purpose of increasing school safety. According to the plan, there would be “mandatory school resource officers in every public school. These law-enforcement officers must either be sworn sheriff’s deputies or police officers and be present during all hours students are on campus. The size of the campus should be a factor in determining staffing levels by the county sheriff’s office, and Governor Scott is proposing at least one officer for every 1,000 students. This must be implemented by the start of the 2018 school year.”
It is not stated in the Governor's action plan how much of that $450 million would be earmarked for SROs.
According to the website indeed.com, the average salary for a sheriff's deputy in Florida is $44,138. According to ballotpedia.org, Florida in 2013 had 2,692,162 students enrolled in 4,269 schools in 67 school districts. Using the mandate of one SRO for every school, and using the average salary of $44,138 per deputy, the total price tag for having just one SRO in each school would amount to $88,425,122. One could easily expect that price to increase, considering that many schools in the state have a population of well over 1,000 students.
Section 42 of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Scott states that “for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the sum of $97,500,000 in recurring funds is appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Education in the Aid to Local Governments Grants and Aids – Florida Education Finance Program category for the safe schools allocation.
“These funds are in addition to the safe schools allocation funds appropriated in the Florida Education Finance Program in the Fiscal Year 2018 – 2019 General Appropriations Act. From these funds, $187,340 shall be distributed to each school district and developmental research school to increase each school districts’ minimum amount to $250,000 when combined with the minimum amount appropriated in the 2018-2019 General Appropriations Act.
“Notwithstanding s. 1011.62(15), Florida Statutes, the balance of the funds appropriated in this section shall be distributed to school districts based on each district’s proportionate share of the state’s total unweighted full-time equivalent student enrollment. Each school district must also use these funds exclusively for hiring or contracting for school resource officers pursuant to s. 1006.12, Florida Statutes.”
In Jefferson County, one SRO currently serves the district's one public school -- Jefferson Somerset. According to Sheriff Alfred “Mac” McNeill, the cost of a single SRO (including salary, benefits and equipment), can range from $113,789 to $130,105, depending on the officer's years of service. That's as far as the Sheriff could go in calculating the total cost, however, as it was unknown at the time how many resources officers the Jefferson County School District might require per the new legislation.
That's because Jefferson County is an almost unique situation in that its facility on Davis Road encompasses three schools: elementary, middle and high.
The question, as School Superintendent Marianne Arbulu explained it, was whether, per the new legislation, Jefferson Somerset counted as one facility (three schools in one), two facilities (elementary and middle/high school) or three separate schools. That's the question that Arbulu put to the Florida Department of Education (FDOE).
“I'm trying to get clarity on this,” Arbulu told the Monticello News in March.
There was also the possibility, she said at the time, that per the new law, the adult school and central office on West Washington Street would also each require a resource office. If that was the case, Arbulu said, it would be “disastrous,” as the district's budget can't fund such an effort.
She also didn't know how much extra money the district might receive from the state.
“That's something I'm trying to buttoned down,” she then said.
Last week, Arbulu emailed that she had finally gotten a response from the FDOE.
“We have agreed on two full-time resource officers for the 50 David Rd campus,'' Arbulu said. ''In addition, we will have a resource officer who covers the Alternative School on Water Street and the Adult School at the district office. The total from the state for the resource officers is approximately $290,000.''
She added that the details on the agreements were still being finalized.
Critics have questioned the Governor's requirement to have SROs in each school, calling it “yet another unfunded mandate from Tallahassee.” It yet remains to be determined just how much of that mandate will be funded from Tallahassee and how much will fall on the shoulders of local governments. Regardless, as with everything else, in the end the taxpayers will be the one's paying the the final tab.