ScholarChip

Ways to Get Funding for Your Texas School Security Plan

School boards and administrators understand the need for an innovative school security plan. But with continuous funding challenges and growing demands coming from across campus, bringing in the necessary technology and infrastructure is cost-prohibitive for many cash-strapped school districts. But there are grant programs at the state and federal levels that can help schools realize their security and prevention goals.

State and federal funding can help schools achieve their campus security and safety goals. It’s a good sign that many grant programs focus on preventing school violence, not just reacting to it. Here is a sampling of funding sources available to Texas districts working to implement a new school security plan.

Federal Grant Resources to Help Your District Implement a New School Security Plan

Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence

The STOP School Violence Program is a valuable grant source that helps schools focus on identifying and working with students who may be at risk of committing violent acts on school property. The STOP School violence program provides federal funding for schools to develop and implement mental health crisis training, violence intervention programs, anonymous reporting systems, and more.

Project Prevent Grant

The Project Prevent Grant Program is a federal grant program designed for “communities with pervasive violence” in mind. This grant helps the toughest school districts address the particular needs of their students who are living in communities and homes that put them in a cycle of violence. Activities eligible for this grant include developing systems to identify students affected by violence and delivering mental health services, conflict resolution programs, and “other school-based violence prevention strategies.”

School Climate Transformation Grant

School climate is a major factor in predicting the likeliness and frequency of school violence. Students must feel safe, supported, and loved at school in order to achieve their fullest potential. That can be difficult when students are bullied and don’t have an adult they feel comfortable talking to. If they see students breaking rules and treating others poorly without repercussions, there is no real incentive to speak up and try to make things right. The School Climate Transformation Grant Program is a federal grant program that supports schools developing systems of support to improve school climate and thereby prevent school violence.

Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program

The National Association of School Psychologists claims that during the 2009-10 school year, only seven schools in the United States met their ratio recommendation of no more than one thousand students per counselor. The Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program is a $15-million federal grant program intended to address this widespread shortage of mental health professionals in public schools. The program is designed to help connect graduate students studying in mental health fields with high-needs schools. Funding will help graduate students complete the training necessary to fill school counselor positions.

Texas State Grant Resources

Texas School Safety and Security Grant

The Texas School Safety and Security Grant provides $100 million in funding to schools across Texas to harden their campuses through such measures as barricades, locking technologies, and metal detectors. The grant can also be used to implement technology to deter attacks, such as video cameras and visitor management systems. Furthermore, these funds can be leveraged to plan for and improve a school district’s crisis response process through coordination with law enforcement and other local resources.

Grants from the Office of the Governor

Students who are chronically absent from school will naturally struggle to keep up with their peers and complete their courses of study on time. In fact, studies show that truant students are more likely to enter the juvenile justice system and at younger average ages than students who miss very little school. The Texas Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office Criminal Justice Division’s Juvenile Justice & Truancy Prevention Grant Program provides state funding to schools to assist with identifying at-risk youth, developing programs and support to prevent truancy and juvenile incarceration, and providing mental health assistance.

ScholarChip Develops School Security Tools to Fit Any Campus

All of the grant programs highlighted above are designed to help schools prevent violence from happening on their campuses. These funding sources can help struggling schools fill security gaps, improve school climate, and prevent violence from entering their gates. In the end, this can help students and staff feel more positive and motivated every day they come to school.

Looking for grant-eligible technology and tools to enhance your school security plan? ScholarChip creates solutions with school safety as the primary objective. Our tools secure front offices, classrooms, and entire campuses across the country. We work hard to help schools make their classrooms safe and positive learning environments.

To learn how ScholarChip can help make Texas schools safer or get free recommendations, feel free to contact our school safety specialists today!