Alamance-Burlington Schools seek $522,000 for police in schools, but it will take more than money

When the Alamance County Commissioners take up the new budget on Monday, they will have an additional $522,000 to put police in local elementary schools full time.

There are school resource officers, SROs, in every district school building, but 14 elementary schools just have officers on campus part-time, which doesn't seem like enough to everybody just now.

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After the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the commissioners put off approving its 2022-23 budget to talk to the school board about putting up another $522,000 to have full-time school resource officers in every district school. That meeting did not end with a clear understanding or commitment.

More: Alamance County Commissioners put off budget vote to consider school security needs

Sandy Ellington-Graves, chair of the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education, said she still hopes county government will help close that gap but however the vote goes, was pleased to hear the commissioners, local law-enforcement leaders and fellow board members make school safety a priority.

She was excited about a possible school safety task force made up of members of both boards, law enforcement and maybe others saying it could bring focus to many school-safety needs like doors and windows that don’t lock and accountability to address them.

More: Alamance-Burlington teachers see big changes from pandemic, many leaving education

In the short term, said Commissioner Craig Turner, all schools needed full-time security when students come back in August. But having the money is just the start. Hiring and training officers could take the better part of a year, said Burlington Police Chief Brian Long. Turner still thinks it’s possible to have security in those schools by late August using retired law-enforcement officers until new SROs are ready.

“We’ve got to be purposeful about it,” Turner said, “and we’ve got to fund it.”

School resource officers are popular with many local governments, especially in the wake of school shootings, but they are still controversial. Critics say police in schools charge students, often minority students, with crimes rather than letting schools discipline them, and the performance of police in Uvalde and in other school shootings hasn’t always made SROs look like the solution to that rare but gut-wrenching problem.

Still, the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education has been trying to get SROs in all district school buildings for a decade, and the commissioners have supported that gradual increase.

Like all school funding, SRO funding is complicated. The state pays less than 60% of the cost of officers in high schools, according to Jeremy Teetor, ABSS finance officer, and competitive grants pay for about half the cost of officers in some elementary schools. Local governments pay for the rest.

Local governments have money this year with strong tax revenues and COVID relief dollars. A lot of that money has limits, meaning ABSS can’t spend it hiring SROs, and there are other priorities.

The county manager’s budget proposal already included an additional $245,000 to hire four more SROs. It would take about $522,000 to get the other 10, according to ABSS.

The proposed county budget also includes $700,000 to increase the county’s teacher supplement. The state pays a base rate for all public school teachers, but counties can add to their local teachers’ pay to be more competative. Like SROs, ABSS increased its teacher supplement gradually until it became the 10th-highest in the state. Of course, four neighboring and nearby districts have even higher supplements, and ABSS has more than 100 vacant teaching positions now, Ellington-Graves said.

None of the school board members were willing to sacrifice that teacher supplement increase, which they already cut from a 1% increase to a ½% in the budget request they sent to the county.

“I think that sends a strong message to our people,” Ellington-Graves said.

Isaac Groves is the Alamance County government watchdog reporter for the Times-News and the USA Today Network. Call or text 919-998-8039 with tips and comments or follow him on Twitter @TNIGroves.

This article originally appeared on Times-News: Alamance-Burlington Schools seek $522K for SROs, need more than money