Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday proposed giving public schools a one-time additional $50 million to spend on school safety, but his plan falls short of the increased counseling resources school officials want after four people were shot and killed at Apalachee High School in Winder in September.
The $50 million would be added to the current state budget atop $109 million in continuing funding that schools are already receiving. That money was placed in the continuing budget beginning July 1, the first time Georgia's public schools have gotten ongoing funding instead of one-time safety grants.
“All of these investments were planned with the goal of making our schools even safer,” Kemp said, adding he believed that without the funding the state has already provided, “that fateful day could have been even more tragic" at Apalachee. The Republican governor said the $50 million would give each of Georgia's more than 2,000 public schools another $21,635 to spend on safety, atop the $47,125 they're already getting.
The governor also proposed that the state boost funding on school psychologists by $872,000. That would provide an estimated 16 more school psychologists statewide, or one for every 2,420 students. Kemp and other Republicans have shied away from trying to regulate children's access to guns, although state Rep. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat, introduced a bill Monday to make it a misdemeanor to not secure guns around children.
