Procuring school safety grant funding can be an arduous and stressful task, particularly for campuses that do not have a dedicated grant writer.
It is estimated that just 15% of U.S. public school districts have a dedicated full-time grant writer, meaning for most, school safety grant procurement responsibilities fall to a likely already overworked employee. To support these individuals, Campus Safety spoke with Julie Fisher, Education Funding Advisor for CENTEGIX, about ways to effectively navigate the complex grant writing process.
RELATED: Want More Campus Security Funding? Avoid These 12 Grant Application Mistakes
CENTEGIX also offers a free school safety funding guide, complete with links to federal and state school safety funding sources.
Additionally, Schoolsafety.gov has a grant finder tool that helps schools find applicable funding opportunities. The clearinghouse even offers a Grants Finder Tool Quiz to help narrow down results.
Here’s our discussion with Julie Fisher.
Topic 1: Common School Safety Grant Writing Mistakes
Campus Safety: What are mistakes schools often make when applying for school safety funding and how can they be avoided?
Julie Fisher: One of the most common mistakes is that schools chase funding before they clearly define their safety needs. They find a grant first and then try to make their project fit the program, rather than starting with a true risk or vulnerability assessment. Submitting a laundry list of equipment instead of targeting documented needs often results in a decline.
Timing is another major issue. Many applications are rushed in the final weeks, which almost always leads to missing documentation, weak narratives, or budgets that don’t align with the project scope.
Don’t ignore sustainability. Reviewers want to know what happens after the grant ends. If there is no plan for maintenance, training, or long-term operations, that’s a red flag. Schools must build multi-year safety and funding roadmaps, match each project component to the correct funding source, and ensure the narrative clearly ties back to documented needs and outcomes.
Topic 2: Balancing School Safety with Campus Climate
Campus Safety: How can schools ensure increased security spending doesn’t negatively affect the campus climate?
Julie Fisher: Intention and communication. If a school implements highly visible, enforcement-heavy security measures without explaining the purpose behind them, and what is hoped to be achieved, it will negatively affect the campus climate. When safety investments feel like surveillance, they can quickly cause mistrust.
Schools that approach safety as a preparedness and wellness issue tend to see very different results. They focus on layered, discreet security, pair technology with training, and involve teachers, counselors, students, and parents early in the process. When people understand that the goal is faster incident response, better coordination, and prevention—rather than punishment or monitoring —the overall climate actually improves instead of plateauing.
Topic 3: School Safety Grant Writing Red Flags
Campus Safety: What red flags do reviewers notice immediately?
Julie Fisher: Generic, copy-and-paste narratives that don’t reflect the local community are an immediate concern. So are proposals that talk in broad terms about “improving safety” without measurable outcomes or data to justify the need. Proposals that don’t identify a very specific safety issue will need improvement, and additional detail, as well as a specific solution that will solve that clearly defined issue.
Budget mismatches are another common problem—requesting equipment without including training, or proposing complex projects with no staffing or implementation plan. And from a compliance standpoint, ignoring match requirements, procurement rules, or allowable cost guidelines can disqualify an application before it’s fully reviewed. Strong proposals are specific, well-documented, and clearly aligned with the intent of the program. If you request equipment only on a heavily programmatic grant, you will be declined.
Topic 4: School Safety Grant Writing Trends
Campus Safety: What are some recent trends you see in how schools are approaching safety funding?
Julie Fisher: There’s been a noticeable shift away from single, one-off purchases toward more integrated, long-term safety planning. Districts are combining technology, training, and procedural improvements into unified systems rather than treating them as separate projects. We’re also seeing more regional and consortium applications, where districts collaborate to strengthen competitiveness and share resources.
RELATED: Improving School Safety Starts with Reliable Funding
Another major trend is diversification of funding. With federal programs becoming more competitive, schools are increasingly blending federal dollars with state programs, local capital funds, bonds, and even public safety budgets. Also, there’s far more alignment today between physical security and mental health, threat assessment, and prevention frameworks. Safety is being funded as an ecosystem rather than just a set of individual devices.
Topic 5: School Safety Grant Writing Resources, Recommendations
Campus Safety: What additional resources or training would you recommend for applicants?
Julie Fisher: One of the most valuable investments a school can make is in grant compliance and post-award management training. Many districts lose funding—or face audit issues—not because their project was weak, but because they struggled with documentation, procurement, or reporting after the award was made.
Risk and vulnerability assessment training using nationally recognized methodologies is also critical, since it strengthens both the application and the overall safety strategy. I also strongly recommend cross-department planning workshops that bring together IT, facilities, law enforcement, student services, and administration. Safety funding works best when it’s not isolated.
Finally, schools should talk to other districts in their region. Find out what worked, what didn’t, and how others are funding safety and security. Peer learning is often one of the most practical and underused resources available—everyone is working toward the same goal of safer campuses.
