JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Board of Education voted Friday to award 24 school districts with security grants, totaling $630,000.
The Lauderdale County School District will receive $80,000, the most money awarded through the program, Associated Press reports.
Although the board has approved more security funding, it has yet to spend half of the $5 million the state Legislature appropriated in 2013 to enhance school security. As part of the program, districts received $10,000 each toward armed school resource officers.
Since the program’s introduction, only $2.2 million has been disbursed, with 73 of the state’s 151 school districts receiving funds from the Mississippi Community Oriented Policing Services programs. The program, which ends June 30, has funded a total of 220 officers.
Board members believe that if legislators roll over the remainder of last year’s appropriation, the state could hand out another year of grants to current recipients.
