Senator Yaw Announces $500,000 in School Safety Grants Across District

HARRISBURG – Twenty local schools across the 23rd Senatorial District were awarded funding today through a new state School Safety and Security Grant Program, according to state Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23).

The program was created by lawmakers earlier this year and will allocate grant funding to school districts, intermediate units, area vocational-technical schools, charter schools and private residential rehabilitative institutions for a wide variety of projects to improve school safety.  Each local school district that applied through the program was awarded a grant of $25,000 for this round.

“These grants would not have been possible without the bipartisan cooperation of lawmakers and the valuable input of schools, teachers, students, law enforcement, and other experts in school safety,” Senator Yaw said. “Protecting our schools was a point of emphasis for me during the budget process, and I am grateful that our local schools will soon see the benefits of this new grant program.”

Local grant recipients include:  [Bradford] Athens Area School District, Canton Area School District, Northeast Bradford School District, Sayre Area School District, Towanda Area School District, Troy Area School District, Wyalusing Area School District; [Lycoming] East Lycoming School District, Jersey Shore Area School District, Loyalsock Township School District, Montgomery Area School District, Montoursville Area School District, Muncy School District, South Williamsport Area School District, Williamsport Area School District; [Sullivan] Sullivan County School District; [Susquehanna] Elk Lake School District, Montrose Area School District; [Union] Lewisburg Area School District, Mifflinburg Area School District.

Eligible uses for the grants include hiring school security officers, purchasing security-related technology, completing safety and security assessments, implementing violence prevention curricula, offering counseling services for students, and creating other programs to protect students.

The new program was created as part of a comprehensive school safety bill that was signed into law in June. More than $60 million in new funding was dedicated in the current year’s budget to improve school safety, the Senator said.

More information on school safety measures under consideration in the General Assembly is available online at https://www.pasenategop.com/school-safety/.

CONTACT:

Rita Zielonis, Chief of Staff

(717) 787-3280

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