Relating to school resource officers by establishing a rural school security grant program and making appropriations

This bill directs the department of education to establish a rural school security grant program to provide grants to school districts with basic enrollments for the budget year of 1,000 or less for the hiring and equipping of a school resource officer. Under the bill, a school district may collaborate and partner with one or more school districts or law enforcement agencies to hire and equip the school resource officer position for which the grant application is filed.11, subsection 5. Grant funds may be used for school resource officer salaries, benefits, and equipment. The bill directs the department of education, in consultation with the department of public safety’s school safety bureau, to develop a grant application and selection and evaluation criteria. Applicants that meet the selection and evaluation criteria shall be awarded grants on a first-come-first-served basis. A grant awarded to a school district in any single fiscal year shall not exceed an amount equal to the lesser of $20,000 or percent of the amount of other school district funding sources specified in the school district’s application from other school district funding sources to hire and equip the school resource officer. The bill establishes a rural school security grant fund and appropriates $4 million to the fund for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023. Moneys in the fund at the close of a fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain available for expenditure for the purposes designated for subsequent fiscal years.