Securing Our Schools

How can we expect our students to learn if they are constantly looking over their shoulders in fear, worrying if a gun or knife has been brought into their school to be used against them? The answer is that we can’t. That is why, as the 110th Congress moves forward, I believe that we should make the safety of all our schoolchildren a national priority. And that is why Senator Barbara Boxer and I introduced the School Safety Enhancements Act of 2007.

Our bill will expand the successful Secure Our Schools initiative that former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) and I created in 2000. Secure Our Schools is a federal matching grant program to help local governments afford security equipment and training in their schools.  Since its first year of funding in 2002, $50 million dollars has been distributed to 48 states under the Secure Our Schools program, helping an estimated 1,300 schools nationwide. Over $6 million has helped secure 160 schools in my home state of New Jersey alone.

I am proud of these successes, but join Senator Boxer in the belief that much more must be done. The School Safety Enhancements Act would allow the federal government to do more by increasing the amount of funding allowed for school safety grants to $50 million annually. It would increase the federal share of security improvements from 50% to 80% to take more of the burden off of local governments. And our bill would add to the list of acceptable uses for a Secure Our Schools grant, most notably to allow schools to develop a telephone hotline that students can call to report tips. 

I look forward to creating an even bigger and better Secure Our Schools program and am grateful to Senator Boxer and my New Jersey colleague, Senator Frank Lautenberg, for their leadership on this issue in the Senate. I am hopeful that this Congress will increase funding for school safety – for all our children’s sake.

More information about this legislation is available here.