Millions in Nevada taxpayer money set for school security

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Millions of dollars, set aside by state lawmakers during the last legislative session, will soon be headed for school districts statewide to enhance school safety and security.

"We allocated an additional $75 million to school safety," said Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak. Both through the counseling side, the soft side, and on the hard side, hardening the targets with some physical improvements, with more cameras," Sisolak added.

Christy McGill, Director of the Nevada Department of Education Division of Safe and Respectful Learning, said the $75 million in state money is on top of another $1 million from a Federal grant program established by Congress after the deadly high school shooting in South Florida.

"In Parkland," said McGill, "Many people knew that this young person was struggling." She added, "So, we're hoping with this multi-pronged approach, and by strengthening behavioral health in our schools, we can actually intervene earlier and de-escalate some of these kids."

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The state money will also include infrastructure improvements and security assessment to make Nevada schools harder targets. "That threat assessment around the school buildings itself will help schools decide what are the most important school safety features to fund first," said McGill.

In Clark County, Nevada's largest school district and the fifth-largest in the nation, Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara said more money will also be spent on hiring more school police officers. "We're really building on our police force to be a resource," said Jara, "not to really arrest our kids, but just really for their safety and security."

Jara also said the additional money will be put to use by hiring additional mental health professionals for the schools. "I think mental health support for our children and our families is one of the things that's more impactful because we're moving into a direction as to how we rethink our discipline," Jara added.

Christy McGill was also quick to point out how the school security funding was a true bi-partisan effort in Carson City. "I really feel like this multi-prong approach, taking the best of what the Republicans offered and the best of what the Democrats offered, coming together with a holistic safety approach," said McGill. "That includes the hardening, the prevention, the looking at the behavioral, mental, how we prevent school violence."