“The protection of students, educators and school employees is of the utmost concern to me, members of the General Assembly, parents and communities across the commonwealth,” Corbett said. “Students who do not feel safe while in school are unable to learn, which will negatively impact their academic performance.”

Through the School Police Officer/Resource Officer grant program, $3.9 million was awarded to 81 schools and municipalities across the state for the placement of officers in schools. Scarnati authored the legislation to create the program, which Gov. Corbett signed into law with the state’s 2013-14 budget.

“Today we are seeing firsthand the positive impacts that the school safety grant program is having within our communities,” Scarnati said. “Ensuring that students and teachers feel safe in their learning environments is a crucial part of helping children to learn and succeed. Across Pennsylvania, each school’s safety needs are unique, which the program recognizes by allowing local school officials to determine how best to use the grants to protect our children.”

The grant program allows eligible schools and municipalities to receive up to $60,000 for a school resource officer and up to $40,000 for a school police officer. These officers will be largely responsible for providing law and safety training to school staff, students, parents and school community members, including school-based human services staff from community-based organizations. They will also be expected to assist other law enforcement officers with outside investigations concerning students and act as a liaison with juvenile probation.

Corbett also announced the award of $2.6 million to 110 public schools through the Safe Schools Targeted Grant. According to a release issued by the governor’s office, this funding will be used to establish and implement programs to prevent and reduce school violence. The funding will help schools reduce unnecessary disciplinary actions and promote an environment of greater productivity. It will also provide for staff professional development using research-based violence prevention and classroom management programs, and enhance antiviolence efforts.

Each school was awarded up to $25,000 to implement or expand programs that focus on conflict resolution or dispute management, school-wide positive behavior support, school-based diversion programs, classroom management and research-based violence prevention programs that address risk factors.

As a part of this new funding, school staff will also be trained in the use of positive behavior supports, de-escalation techniques and appropriate responses to student behavior that may require immediate intervention.

In the 2013-14 state budget, funding for the Safe School Initiative was increased from $2 million to $8.5 million, allowing more schools to have access to safety funding. Corbett’s proposed 2014-15 budget preserves the $6.5 million increase for the Safe School Initiative line item.

“Schools across the state must be safe havens so students are ready to learn, ready to grow and ready to succeed,” Corbett said. “I remain committed to working with the General Assembly to ensure that all students have access to a safe and secure learning environment.”

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“Education is the largest single item in my budget,” Corbett said Tuesday. “The increase I propose would bring direct state support of public education to $10.1 billion, more than 40 percent of state spending.”

Corbett proposed to allocate $400 million more to public school funding than he has in previous years, including $20 million for special education and $25 million to help students receive higher education. However, many state lawmakers are attributing the shift to election year politics, as all eight of Corbett’s democratic challengers are also calling for increases in education spending.

A poll released recently by F&M showed Pennsylvania voters care greatly about the state’s investment in education. Nineteen percent of polled voters ranked education as their top concern, a number bested only by unemployment and personal finances, which 26 percent of polled voters chose as their top issue.

The state’s previous Governor Ed Rendell pumped over $1 billion in stimulus funds into Pennsylvania’s education initiatives before leaving office in 2010, the final year such funding was available. When Corbett came into office in 2011, the state was facing down a $4.2 billion funding deficit. The new Republican governor proceeded to make deep cuts in education funding in an attempt to narrow the gap, a move that has not been forgotten. Political opponents and educators alike have since accused the governor of neglecting poor school districts. However, Governor Corbett maintains that those cuts were the result of those expired federal stimulus funds, and that state education funding is actually higher than it has ever been at $5.5 billion.

Without the benefit of the stimulus funds, Corbett signed off on a 2011 budget which eliminated well over $400 million from the state’s basic education funding. Additional cuts impacted the state’s charter school reimbursement program, Accountability Block Grants and higher education spending. In that same year the governor was also forced to double school-employee pension contributions to more than $300 million as the result of new legislation.

However, in his following budgets Corbett has worked to restore these funds. He added nearly $172 million to basic education funding and roughly $100 million to the state’s Accountability Block Grants.

To show his support for education, Corbett has also thrown his weight behind HB 1738, which would create a commission tasked with developing a new and improved statewide education funding formula. According to Corbett, as well as education advocates, the current system is unfair and needs to be changed. Additionally, the governor has said he would increase pre-kindergarten education funding by an estimated $10 million.

Both the Pennsylvania House and Senate are set to begin budget hearings on Feb. 10.

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