Wisconsin DOJ Finds Funds for Office of School Safety
Thursday, August 17th, 2023 -- 9:22 AM
(WBAY) The Wisconsin Department of Justice found the money to keep its Office of School Safety open, but the funding is only temporary.
The Office of School Safety (OSS) operates the state’s Speak Up, Speak Out hotline for reporting school threats, trains school staff and law enforcement on preventing and mitigating school violence, and created and trains regional Critical Incident Response Teams for violence or natural emergencies at schools.
Attorney General Josh Kaul said Wednesday the DOJ is reallocating $1,340,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the OSS. The money was originally going to pay for outsourcing evidence testing, but the DOJ couldn’t find any vendors available to handle certain types of evidence.
The funding needed to be used before a deadline. The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee didn’t offer money for OSS in the latest budget. This one-time funding is expected to run out at the end of next year.
“We’re committed to doing everything we can to keep our kids safe by preventing tragedy, and that’s exactly what these funds will help us continue to do,” Kaul wrote in a statement. “It remains essential, however, for the state legislature to take action in the current legislative session. We must not allow critical Office of School Safety programs to be gutted at the end of 2024.”
Since opening in 2018, the Office of School Safety has distributed almost $100 million in grants for improving school safety, threat assessment training, and mental health training. Private, charter and tribal schools have received funds as well as public schools.
The DOJ says the Speak Up, Speak Out hotline received more than 7,500 tips since the free, confidential reporting system started 3 years ago. Half of those were received in this past school year. More than 1,700 schools and law enforcement agencies received at least one tip.
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