Gov. Holcomb Announces Historic Funding for School Safety

Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 2:55 PM

See a list of local schools and school corporations that received funding.

Shutterstock photo.

INDIANAPOLIS – Governor Eric Holcomb announced today the approval of nearly $30 million in matching state grants for school safety.

Earlier this year, the Indiana General Assembly approved the Governor’s 2023 Next Level Agenda budget proposal to increase the Secured School Safety Grant (SSSG) by $25 million each year.

Due to additional funding from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) budget, the Board voted to approve all application requests, totaling 605 projects for 474 schools.

“These school safety grants represent another example of historic investments in public safety,” Gov. Holcomb said. “I am pleased we are able to financially support every school that identified safety as a top priority.”

For this fiscal year, the board approved $29.8 million in school safety funding. Local grant recipients are listed below. See a full list of recipients here.

Organization	County	Total Award Amount
Batesville Schools	Franklin	$58,203.45
Franklin County Schools	Franklin	$70,000.00
Jac-Cen-Del Schools	Ripley	$25,000.00
Lawrenceburg Schools	Dearborn	$100,000.00
Milan Schools	Ripley	$25,000.00
Oldenburg Academy	Franklin	$34,000.00
Rising Sun-Ohio County Schools	Ohio	$42,000.00
Saint Lawrence School	Dearborn	$22,111.00
Saint Michael School	Franklin	$22,407.00
South Dearborn Schools	Dearborn	$60,000.00
Southeastern Career Center South Ripley Schools	Ripley	$50,000.00 $86,610
Sunman-Dearborn Schools	Dearborn	$100,000.00
Switzerland County Schools	Switzerland	$50,000.00

*Data via the Indiana Department of Homeland Security

“Since the inception of the Secured Schools Safety Grant program, we have listened to schools across the state about what they see as their greatest needs in the way of safety,” said IDHS Executive Director Joel Thacker. “As a result, this year we can offer more eligible funding categories than ever before, leading to safer schools and an overall better learning environment. “

The areas that schools chose to use their funding is listed below.

Category	Number of applicants	Dollars allocated
SRO/LEO	302	$19,425,611.83
Equipment/Tech/Hardware	218	$8,325,667.02
Student/Parent Support Services	31	$1,150,253.41
Training	21	$160,820.29
Firearms Training for Staff	7	$101,979
AEWS (no match)	6	$100,737,50
Site Vulnerability Assessment	7	$20,962.82
Bullying Prevention	2	$17,000
Design and Construction	11	$521,771.80
Post-incident Counseling Services	0	$0
Total	605	$29,824,803.67
SRO/LEO	302	$19,425,611.83