SRO's can breathe easier now.

School district to pick up a bigger share of the school resource officers' salaries
By Kathy Bushouse | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
6:36 PM EDT, June 17, 2008

With cities and the county facing a cash crunch, the Broward County School District promised Tuesday to move toward evenly splitting the cost for school resource officers with city police departments and the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Board members passed a resolution vowing the district would, gradually over four years, increase its contributions until it pays for half of school resource officer salaries, which vary. The district currently pays $12,000 toward the salaries of its more than 150 school resource officers.

As more governments tighten their budgets, they've agitated for more money from the School District. Some cities already have pulled officers from schools, with an 8-percent decrease in the number of officers in schools this year.

Most board members agreed the school district should pick up a bigger share of the officers' salaries. The board voted 8 to 1 to support the resolution, with board member Stephanie Kraft voting against it.



Kraft said she wasn't against the school resource officer program, but thought the school district should not take on a greater share of the cost.

"Basically we're telling the cities and the county, 'Don't worry about it, we'll take responsibility off of your plate'. .. .. . when we can't even afford what's on our plate right now," Kraft said during Tuesday's board meeting.

Other board members said the district hasn't paid its fair share and needed to change that, because they want to keep officers in schools.

"While our main focus is educating our students, really the education is useless if they're not safe," said board member Jennifer Gottlieb.

Sunrise Assistant Deputy Mayor Donald Rosen said his city has 11 resource officers in Sunrise schools, and didn't want to pull officers from schools because of money.

"We need to make sure our children are well-protected," Rosen said. "This is not about police presence. It's about relationships."

Until their salaries are fully covered by the County, SRO's in County Schools should be available to augment the road like every other unit in the PD. As a matter of fact, they should be the first ones used, even before traffic guys are pulled. It's called prioritizing needs. The Road should never be left short, and a callout never necessary. Use what we have available to it's fullest potential and let's help the City weather this budget mess without giving up positions or benefits.

Until their salaries are fully covered by the County, SRO's in County Schools should be available to augment the road like every other unit in the PD. As a matter of fact, they should be the first ones used, even before traffic guys are pulled. It's called prioritizing needs. The Road should never be left short, and a callout never necessary. Use what we have available to it's fullest potential and let's help the City weather this budget mess without giving up positions or benefits.

Let me guess. You must be in the traffic unit!

Totally Agree. As a superviosr in a city PD, SRO"s unless fully funded by the County or School Board... take and continue to take more from all cities in FL. Yes it is important by not at the expense of our road officers and cities own budget needs!