How Indiana schools spent $110M in school safety grants

WRTV has learned Indiana schools have received $110 million in state grant dollars to improve school safety since the program began in 2014.

How Indiana schools spent $110M in grants aimed at improving safety for students and staff

MSD Wayne Township in Marion County has received $100,000 a year for several years in a row thanks to the Secured School Safety Grant program.

MSD Wayne Twp has used the money to help fund two school resource officers at Ben Davis High School.

By: Kara Kenney

INDIANAPOLIS — As the nation mourns the lives lost in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, school districts across Indiana are preparing to apply for funds that can help them prevent such a tragedy.

Applications for the Secured School Safety Grant open on Wednesday, June 1.

WRTV has learned Indiana schools have received $110 million in state grant dollars to improve school safety since the program began in 2014.

On August 25, 2021, the Indiana Secured School Safety Board awarded 392 school organizations throughout the state with the grant money.

Click here to see how much your school district received.

Records show most of the Secured School Safety Grant dollars are spent on school resource and law enforcement officers.

The allocation of funds for Fiscal Year 22 include:

$13,440,128.88 for School Resource Officers/law enforcement officers
$4,926,399.15 for equipment
$642,369.22 for student and parent support services programs
$43,678.47 for active event warning services
$6,233.33 for training

For example, MSD Wayne Township in Marion County has received $100,000 a year for several years in a row thanks to the Secured School Safety Grant program.

MSD Wayne Twp has used the money to help fund two school resource officers at Ben Davis High School.

The Center Grove Community School Corporation received $100,000 in Fiscal Year 2022.

Center Grove spent the school safety grant funds on the Centegix Crisis Alert system which was installed in every building in the corporation.

“The system includes wearable badges with an emergency button,” according to Center Grove’s website. “Once the button is pressed, audio and visual notifications are sent facility-wide using colored strobe lights, desktop alerts, and building intercoms. This will allow the entire building to go on lockdown instantly.

Strobe lights are installed in classrooms, offices, hallways, gymnasiums and cafeterias."

To date, more than $110 million has been awarded to secure Indiana's schools through money appropriated by the Indiana General Assembly, federal grants and matching funds used by local school districts, charter schools and nonpublic accredited schools, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security website.

These funds have been used to improve building security (new doors, access control systems, video cameras), fund School Resource Officers and perform threat assessments to determine what threats exist and how to eliminate or respond to them, according to IDHS.

From FY14 to FY22, the Indiana Secured School Grant Board has approved 2,707 grant requests, records show.

The Indiana Secured School Grant Board has denied 73 grant requests during that period. Grant requests may be denied in whole or in part for several reasons, including requests for items or purchases that are not eligible under the statute, incomplete applications or availability of funding, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.