LegiStorm

Summary:

In the United States, more than 68 million students are enrolled in public elementary and secondary (K-12) schools or degree-granting postsecondary institutions. School and campus safety and security for these students encompasses many issues, including violence prevention and response, school climate, and the physical and mental health of the school community. Students’ safety and security while in school is an area of concern for the federal government and state and local governments, as well as school districts, institutions of higher education, students’ families, and Members of Congress. Congress has responded to school safety and security concerns with hearings and legislation creating new programs and mandating data collection efforts and reports. The focus of congressional efforts to support school safety has expanded over the years, from tracking and responding to individual incidents to promoting safe, positive school learning environments and providing students and school personnel the tools and resources to respond to crises when they arise. State and local governments oversee K-12 education in public schools. Colleges and universities are a mix of public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit entities with varying governance structures. The federal government’s main avenue for supporting schools in general and school and campus safety specifically is through grant programs. This report provides an overview of grant programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that provide direct or indirect funding for school and campus safety and security initiatives. The report also provides an overview of programs and initiatives administered by these departments that support school safety and security efforts in other ways, such as through data collection and reporting and technical assistance. Several federal grant programs provide funding to directly support school safety and security programs, including the following examples. DOJ’s Matching Grant Program for School Security provides grants to support evidence-based programs to improve security at schools and on school grounds. ED’s National Activities for School Safety authorizes the Secretary of Education to carry out activities to improve students’ safety and wellbeing, during and after the school day. HHS’s Project AWARE Educational Agency grants provide funding to support training teachers and school personnel on mental health awareness, and to connect youth with behavioral health issues to needed services. Most federal funding that is available for school safety and security programs is not explicitly required to be used for school safety activities. For example, DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program provides grants to state, local, and tribal governments for hiring police officers to engage in community policing activities. Among other purposes, funds can be used to hire School Resource Officers. DHS’s Preparedness Grants provide funds to enhance the capacity of “state and local emergency responders to prevent, respond to, and recover from a terrorism incident.” Funding may be used for public school safety and security, if grant recipients determine it to be a priority. Because there are other uses of the grant funds for these programs, it is difficult to track exactly how much funding under these programs has been awarded specifically for school safety and security. In addition, the federal government operates initiatives that support the efforts of state and local governments to secure schools. For example, SchoolSafety.gov is the website of the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse, an interagency effort among ED, HHS, DHS, and DOJ. The website provides information, resources, and guidance focused on school safety. As another example, the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Council provides advice and recommendations to the DHS Secretary and departmental senior leadership on matters related to homeland security and the academic community.