Indiana Governor Mike Pence announced he will be adding $3.5 million to a school safety program in the state October 9.
The decision represents a shift in policy for the Republican governor, who cut funding to the program by 65 percent earlier in the year, according to The Journal Gazette.
The Indiana Secured School Safety Grant Program, created in 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, allows school corporations, charter schools and school coalitions to apply for grants of up to $50,000 a year. The funds must be used to conduct threat assessments, purchase security equipment or employ school resource officers (including funds for their salary, benefits and training).
In the last two years Pence and the legislature had put $20 million toward the program, but earlier this year they decided to invest just $7 million over the next two years, which represents a 65 percent cut in funding.
But the new announcement doubles the $3.5 million expected to go into the program next year, with special emphasis put on hiring school resource officers.
