HARRISBURG – School safety grants were awarded today nine school districts in the 32nd Senatorial District, according to Senator Pat Stefano (R-32).
School districts and other entities that were awarded grants include:
Frazier School District $52,102
Laurel Highlands School District $75,794
North Star School District $92,150
Rockwood Area School District $90,448
Salisbury-Elk Lick School District $350,000
Somerset Area School District $33,564
Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District School District $78,513
Mount Pleasant Area School District $7,580
Southmoreland School District $91,700
The grants were awarded by the School Safety and Security Committee within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) as part of the School Safety and Security Grant Program, which was created by lawmakers in 2018.
“This funding will go a long way toward keeping our students and our schools safer,” Stefano said. “I was pleased to support legislation to provide resources for school districts so they can take steps to prevent violence.”
Eligible uses for the grants include hiring school security officers, purchasing security-related technology, completing safety and security assessments, implementing violence prevention curricula, offering counseling services for students, and creating other programs to protect students.
A total of approximately $40 million was awarded for 234 projects throughout the state in the current round of funding. In total, the School Safety and Security Grant Program will provide $52.5 million in school safety grants and $7.5 million in community violence prevention grants in the current Fiscal Year.
Every school district in the state that submitted a meritorious application was awarded a $25,000 grant last October to improve school safety. The grants announced today were awarded on a competitive basis to schools that were seeking additional funding beyond the original grant.
PCCD received a total of 638 applications totaling $177.6 million for school safety projects in the current Fiscal Year.
A total of $7.5 million in grants were also awarded for community violence prevention initiatives.