Michiana schools, districts receive safety grants

INDIANA (WNDU) - Indiana lawmakers announced school districts statewide are receiving a record-breaking amount of matching grants to be allocated for school safety and security.

In 2022, more than $22.9 million is heading to 425 schools across the Hoosier State, including 14 schools (and school districts) in St. Joseph County, which are receiving more than $602,000 through the state’s Secured Schools Safety Grant Program.

“Sometimes, government is reactive, and we want to get as proactive as we can here in the State of Indiana when it comes to protecting our kids,” remarked State Rep. Dale DeVon (R-Granger).

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. is receiving close to $100,000 in matching grants that the district is using to fund training for school resource officers and to upgrade the radio system districtwide, including on buses.

“When your life kind of depends on that, and our bus drivers depend on their radios to get where they need to go or kids not picked up or they dropped off - any crash, anything that you can imagine like how important that communication is,” explained retired police officer Tommy Teeter, the new director of PHM safety and security.

Elsewhere in St. Joseph County, other grant recipients include St. Joseph High School ($50,000); SBCSC ($19,957); and School City of Mishawaka ($100,000).

SCM said the district uses the Secured Schools Safety Grant funding to pay for school resource officers.

In all, the state has invested about $133 million in matching grants through the Secured School Fund, which was established through a 2013 Indiana law.

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