Putnam Schools Receive Grant For School Resource Officers

The Putnam County School System has secured additional funding for school resource officers.

Superintendent Jerry Boyd said the $175,000 comes from Governor Bill Lee’s Safe Schools Act.

“It can only be applied to certified SRO’s and $35,000 is the maximum amount that can go towards the salary for an SRO,” Boyd said. “That $175,000 will go directly to the [county] commission and the sheriff to be applied towards the cost of SRO’s.”

The county’s budget provides funding for the sheriff’s office to hire five full-time SRO’s this year. That means every school across the county will have an SRO during the 2019-2020 school year.

Boyd said the school system will have a chance to re-apply for additional security funding in June or July, 2020.

“We do absolutely intend to apply when the window opens,” Boyd said, “so that we have the chance to have another year of the funding to help support the budget.”

Boyd announced the grant award during Monday night’s county commission meeting.