by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

December 18, 2023

Your local Georgia school could be getting $45,000 in new state money to spend on safety personnel, cameras or other security measures if Gov. Brian Kemp gets his way.

Kemp called for a recurring $103.9 million budget item for school safety, adding up to 45 grand per year for each public K-12 school in the state.

Lawmakers have previously approved money for school safety through special grants, but this will be the first time the state sets aside specific funds in the budget for classroom security, Kemp said.

“This has never been in the base budget before, this is now going to be part of permanent K-12 school funding, so this is a landmark thing that we’re doing,” he said at a press conference at the state Capitol Monday morning.

“We’re trusting our educators and our leaders that are elected at the local level to use this money in the right way to protect our teachers and our kids and anybody else that’s in the school, and I’m confident they will do that,” he added. “This is something you worry about every day if you’re law enforcement, if you’re a principal, if you’re one of the teachers or if you’re a parent.”

The proposal is poised to pass without problems when lawmakers clock back in for the legislative season early next year, as the leaders of both chambers expressed their support.

“This additional funding to keep our students safe is just the latest effort to create a world-class education system that equips our children with the tools they need to succeed in a modern world,” said House Speaker Jon Burns.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was not present at the announcement, but in a statement, he said he is “looking forward to building on this announcement and enhancing school safety measures, as I outlined in my Georgia School Safety Initiative in October, and strengthening our commitment to making Georgia’s schools the safest in the nation.”

Jones’ plans for school safety include a controversial $10,000 bonus for teachers who take firearms training and carry guns in schools.

Kemp did not weigh in on that idea Monday.

“I haven’t seen,other than the news stories, the lieutenant governor’s proposals, there’s all kind of proposals that will be coming forward during session, and so we look forward to looking at those. But this is basically us working through – and the lieutenant governor is supportive of this – this $45,000 number was really a number where if the schools want to hire a school resource officer, this funding should be able to take care of that.”

Guns, and specifically whether Georgia wants to bring them into or keep them out of schools are likely to be major subjects of debate in the coming session.

“If you aren’t taking action on the easy access to guns in our state, you are ignoring a root cause of why schools are not safe places for kids,” tweeted Atlanta Democratic Sen. Elena Parent in response to Kemp’s announcement.

The governor also announced a one-time $1,000 holiday bonus for all state employees including teachers and school staff for a total cost of about $330 million.

Kemp said the money is a thank you to state employees for working through the challenges of the last few years.

“This retention pay supplement will arrive during the holiday season, and it’s part of my administration’s way of showing our appreciation for all that they do,” he said.

Georgia’s state treasury has run a surplus in the billions of dollars since 2019, which the governor has tapped to give state workers raises and taxpayers refunds.

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