Michigan Governor Releases Details on $20 Million School Safety Plan
Gov. Rick Snyder is recommending $20 million to help schools upgrade their security.
- By Sydny Shepard
- Apr 19, 2018
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has released the details of his new school safety plan, which recommends $20 million to help schools upgrade their security and calls for a permanent Safe Schools Commission to review safety plans each year.
"Recent tragedies taking place in schools nationwide have escalated emotions and driven some people to entrench upon a single position," Snyder said in a news release. "But there is no one simple solution to solve this terrible problem and prevent it from ever happening again."
There are 18 initiatives included in Snyder's plan:
- $18 million in fiscal year 2019 for school safety grants that will allow school leaders to strengthen buildings, improve lock systems and upgrade communications
- $2 million in the current fiscal year for schools that require basic security upgrades, such as functioning, locking doors
- Schools would submit incident reports to law enforcement
- Schools would develop comprehensive security plans that would include behavioral health policies, student reporting mechanisms, emergency response and building safety requirements
- A temporary school safety task force would make recommendations and a permanent Safe Schools Commission would be created to review and help update the state's school safety plan year to year
- School teachers, administrators and faculty would be trained to identify when students are in need of mental or emotional counseling and support
- The state would pilot a $2 million grand program for intermediate school districts to offer behavioral assessment training for their administrative and academic teams
- The Michigan Council on Law Enforcement Standards would be directed to create a tiered training program for school resource officers. The organization would also be directed to develop a standard for active violence response training for police officers
About the Author
Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.