Governor Bill Lee criticized the Metro Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) plan to utilize $3.375 million in state grant funding to support its current pool of 60 armed school resource officers (SRO) in the 45 Nashville public middle and high schools while increasing patrol presence around elementary schools.
As part of our commitment to school safety, we're continuing to develop plans for the upcoming 2023-24 school year, including finalizing a state school resource officer grant request of at least $3.375 million. More here: https://t.co/s0FoeMrNcG
— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) July 14, 2023
On Friday, MNPD announced that it is finalizing a request for at least $3.375 million from the recently-passed Statewide School Resource Officer Grant to “help fund school resource officers (SROs) in the 45 Nashville public middle and high schools that have full-time SRO positions in the 2023-24 school year.”
According to reports, Governor Lee said that MNPD’s decision not to apply for an additional $5.25 million to fund SROs in Metro Nashville’s 70 elementary schools is a “disservice to parents and teachers who are counting on us.”
As previously reported by The Tennessee Star, the grant includes $140 million to place a full-time, armed SRO at every Tennessee public school. Local law enforcement agencies are eligible to apply for this grant, which would provide up to $75,000 per year, per school in order to provide for SRO services.
The Tennessee General Assembly passed the grant funding during this year’s legislative session as part of Lee’s amended Fiscal Year 23-24 budget following the school shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville that left six dead.
In regards to staffing Metro Nashville’s 70 elementary schools with armed SROs, MNPD said, “volunteer officers on overtime (presently not eligible for grant funding), joined by precinct-based officers and Investigative Services Bureau personnel, will be keeping an eye on a number of elementary school campuses.”
MNPD notes that the ultimate goal is to have full-time SROs in every elementary school. However, for the time being, it must first focus on recruiting and training additional officers to fill those positions.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee. Background Photo “Police Officer” by Arlington County. CC BY-SA 3.0.
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