Monday, May 11, 2009
NATIONAL SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY SERVICES
www.schoolsecurity.org EXPERT QUESTIONS OBAMA SCHOOL SAFETY BUDGET CUTS
School safety expert says President's budget cuts $184.2 million in school safety funds
President Obama's proposed FY2010 budget calls for another cut of over $184 million in federal funding for protecting our nation's schools, according to a national school safety expert.
"It is unbelievable that at the 10th anniversary of the Columbine attack, President Obama proposes cutting school safety funding rather than restoring massive school safety funding cuts by the past Administration and Congresses. It appears the only 'change we can believe in' is further cuts from pithy federal school safety dollars to small change for protecting our nation's school children and teachers," says Kenneth Trump, President of the Cleveland (Ohio)-based National School Safety and Security Services.
President Obama's proposed FY2010 budget calls for eliminating the $294 million state grant component of the Safe and Drug Free School Program. A "portion" of the money cut, $110.6 million, would be moved to fund national programs under the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program. (See
www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget10/summary/edlite-section3a.html#sdfsc and
www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget10/summary/edlite-section4.html .)
The result is a net reduction of over $184 million in federal funding for school safety.
Education Week noted last week that the President's budget claim of the state grant component of the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program being deemed ineffective is misleading.
"The Office of Management and Budget, in its performance-based budget rating system, has not quite declared the program ineffective, but instead says that results have not been demonstrated. This means the program either hasn't set goals, or hasn't collected enough data to determine if it's performing," according to the Education Week blog (see
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2009/05/the_dirty_dozen_ed_dept_budget.html ).
"If the Education Department has failed to set goals or has not collected enough data to know how the program is performing then the Department, not the program, has been ineffective," Trump said.
Trump noted that some in DC have said that an average of $10,000 per school district under the state grant component of the Safe and Drug Free Schools program is too little money to make a difference.
"Only inside the DC Beltway could someone say that $10,000 is too little money. In most school districts, $10,000 is a helpful amount of money to put toward making schools safer, especially in smaller districts that receive no money at all for school safety. Greater resources would be available for school safety if the past Administration and Congresses had not repeatedly slashed this and another programs," Trump said.
The federal Safe and Drug Free Schools state grant component funding topped out at about $650 million around the time of the Columbine shooting, subsequently being slashed to its current funding level of $294.8 million. The Department of Justice's COPS in Schools program, which funded police officers in schools, was eliminated around 2005. The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Education Department program has dropped from $39 million in awards in 2003 to $24 to $27 million for K-12 schools in recent years.
Trump said the President's latest proposed elimination of another $184 million in school safety funding is particularly odd considering Arne Duncan, Obama's Education Secretary, faced major issues with student deaths, shootings, and other safety issues during his tenure as CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
"A student who is brutally attacked in the back hallway of the school on his way to the counselor's office is not going to benefit from a counseling session or be focused on taking a test in the classroom. Schools must first be safe and secure in order for other counseling, academic, and educational support services to be safely and effectively delivered," Trump said.
Trump is a three-time invited Congressional expert witness on school safety issues, most recently testifying to the House Education Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee in 2007. He has authored two books and over 60 professional articles on K-12 school security and emergency preparedness issues. Trump has appeared on all cable and network news channels, and is quoted regularly as a school safety expert in national daily newspapers and professional publications.
EXPERT BACKGROUND AND CONTACT INFO:
Kenneth S. Trump, MPA
President
National School Safety and Security Services
Cleveland, Ohio
216-251-3067
For full biographical see
www.schoolsecurity.org/school-safety-experts/trump.html Kenneth S. Trump, M.P.A., is the President of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based national firm specializing in school security and emergency preparedness training and consulting. Ken served as a school safety officer, investigator, and youth gang unit supervisor for the Cleveland City Schools' safety division, and as a suburban Cleveland school security director and assistant gang task force director.He has authored two books and over 60 articles on school security and crisis issues. As one of the leading U.S. school safety experts, Ken has 25 years experience in the school safety profession and has worked with school and public safety officials from all 50 states. He is one of the most widely quoted school safety experts, appearing on all national news networks and cable TV and in top market newspapers. Ken is a three-time invited Congressional witness testifying on school safety and emergency preparedness issues. For more background, see
www.schoolsecurity.org/school-safety-experts/trump.html