Clay Sheriff says he’s $4.5 million short to meet state mandate on school safety

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is working to put a School Resource Officer in every school in the county, but that will cost $4.5 million that they don’t have budgeted at this time.

“For 48 new bodies in a budget that wasn’t expecting to hire 48 new bodies, it  puts me in a quandary, because I’m essentially having to come petition the Board- the Commissioners, and say we need additional funding to be able to hire these people,” says Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels.

Daniels went before the Clay County Commission Tuesday to make the funding request. This comes after Florida lawmakers approved a funding boost relating to school safety for all districts, with money earmarked for SRO’s, mental health programs, and more. Despite the increase, many school districts have said it’s not enough to meet the mandate under the law, so they’re looking at how else to make up the funding.

Clay County Superintendent Addison Davis says he has about $1.55 million from the State that will go toward School Resource Officers because of the additional funding.

“I do believe openly that the School District owns this, however I come to you as Superintendent of Schools, along with the School Board, to ask for an extension of help,” Davis says.

Another $1.92 million of CCSO’s request is capital outlay- namely equipment for the new hires- which could be financed over several years. That leaves a little more than $1 million that is currently unaccounted for.

Daniels says they need to act fast in order to have the SROs in place by the next school year. He estimated needing to hire 30 personnel this month and the other 18 next month. Of the proposed 48 hires, 36 would be SROs, six would be relief SROs- so that Daniels wouldn’t have to pull from patrol in the event an SRO got sick or couldn’t come in to work- and six would serve as supervisors and for training.

“I’m at a standstill. I need to hire these bodies, like now, to get them stood up for the school year,” Daniels says.

In lieu of using CCSO for SROs, Davis says there are two other options- hiring armed security or participating in the Guardian Program.

The Guardian Program is another item passed by the State this year under the school safety measure, which allows for school staff- but not teachers- to be trained and then armed on campus. The Clay County School Board has previously opted not to participate in this program, and Davis stands against it as well.

“We feel like our students and our teachers and our employees deserve for us to try to find our best, which is our Sheriff’s officers,” says School Board Vice Chair Betsy Condon.

Daniels additionally says the Guardian Program would open the County up to more liability.

The Commission, School Board, Sheriff’s Office, and Superintendent have decided to hold a round-table discussion soon to talk about how to fund this program long term. They couldn’t take any action Tuesday night, because this was not formally on the agenda and, therefore, not publicly noticed. A Commissioner floated the concept of some kind of decision for short term funding at their next meeting in two weeks.

“I have no doubt that we’ll figure out a way to get it done, but for the long term, I don’t see why we can’t go to the public and just have some dedicated funding for the future, so that we take care of the most important thing, and that’s you can’t go to school if you don’t feel safe,” says County Commissioner Diane Hutchings.

While Condon mentioned wanting to find a “creative” way to use their limited resources, a couple of Commissioners already mentioned the potential to explore a tax, but specifically dedicating the funding to school safety.

“Let’s do what’s in the best interest of the County, do what’s in the best interest of these kids. No one wants to be the one who has raising taxes or millage rates associated with their name, however none of us expected for this to fall in our laps for this budget year, so we’re adapting to an ever-changing dynamic,” Daniels says.

All parties seemed to agree that using CCSO was the right path, and that they would figure out a way to ensure schools are safe.

“It’s incumbent on us to step up and make sure this happens,” says County Commissioner Wayne Bolla.

“I know we’re all committed to student safety, whatever the cost,” says County Commissioner Gavin Rollins.

After a question from Rollins, the County Attorney did confirm that the state law requires the Sheriff’s Office and School Board work together on a solution, but doesn’t explicitly require the County to fund anything.

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