TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Leon County School board gave the first green light to the district's proposed tentative budget for next year at a special meeting Tuesday night.
This budget includes millions to boost school safety, using money from the state to add more school Resource deputies to meet the state mandate. The law was enacted after the massacre of 17 students and teachers in Parkland in February.
The district will see an increase of Safe Schools funding from the state, from $1.2 million to $2.5 million. But that doesn't cover everything.
"The district is being very creative in meeting some of the necessary needs," said Scott Mazur, Leon Classroom Teachers Association President. "The state did not fully fund some of the things they were supposed to, such as school safety. But they've done a great job of figuring out a creative way to make sure that our kids are safe."
The district plans to spend $352,000 to hire three new school resource deputies to go to elementary schools in unincorporated areas in Leon County. However, these school resource deputies aren't the only new people students will have to help them deal with issues at school.
Some of the extra state money will be used to help boost the district's off-duty program, staffing elementary schools with off-duty LCSO deputies and Tallahassee police officers.
The district also plans to hire mental health coordinators and unarmed security monitors to staff the halls. The proposed budget also includes spending $800,000 to hire 22 behavioral specialists to help deal with student discipline.
"I think anything that supports the students is definitely an added benefit," said Mazur. "Whether it's a school resource officer where someone feels safe or it's a behavioral specialist to help them work through some issues that they can focus on their learning in the classroom."
While many are applauding this new proposed budget, Superintendent Rocky Hanna knows this may not be the case in the future.
"I don't know how often we'll be able to make chicken salad out of Chicken Little, but this year we were able to do it," Hanna said at Tuesday night's meeting.
A final budget hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11th at 6 p.m. at the Aquilina Howell Center.
On Wednesday, August 1st, district officials will also be holding a media conference on the "Leon County Schools Safe Plan," taking a closer look at all the safety changes they're working on. The conference is at 10 a.m. at the Howell Center.
