Nearly 500 Indiana schools will receive $27 million total for school safety upgrades

The state of Indiana will deliver more than $27 million to nearly 500 schools this year through its school safety grant program.

Lawmakers increased school safety grant funding in the new state budget by 10 percent, up from $24.6 million. Still, the amount of funding requests exceeded that total amount.

The Indiana Secured School Safety Board, which oversees the program, said it prioritized schools who hadn't received safety grants before.

A majority of the schools used the money for law enforcement officers on campus, to the tune of nearly $20 million. $5.5 million went towards safety equipment and hardware upgrades.

READ MORE: Indiana's first school safety director is a former resource officer
 

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Seven schools spent a total of about $32,000 combined on firearm training for staff.

The board doesn't release how each individual school will use the money, saying it keeps that private for "security reasons."
 

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.