MADISON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Madison County School Board members unanimously voted to adopt a resolution to allow the sheriff's office to use the Guardian Program to meet the requirements of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Senate Bill.
The bill requires at least one school resource officer per qualifying school.
The school board has $388,000 to use toward the security requirement.
The Madison Couny Sheriff, in a written statement, said it'd be more like a half million dollars to place a sheriff's deputy at each school.
"At the end of the day, we have to have, by the start of school, we have to have some combination," said Karen Pickles, the superintendent of the Madison County Schools. "And according to the law, we've got to have either SRO's school safety officers, the guardians, or we have to start our own police force and that's just not an option, that's not something we can start this short of notice, that takes time to do."
A budget for either program is due June 1.
If they do not implement the Guardian Program and choose to staff will all sheriff deputies, the school board would have to consider budget cuts to make up the difference in funding.
