Gov. Kemp ramps up funding to increase school safety measures across Georgia

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL)- Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was in Columbus Thursday to wrap up the Georgia School Safety and Homeland Security Convention. Kemp used his closing remarks to announce his plan to step up school security.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers along with state education and public safety personnel attended the conference. Gov. Kemp told them he is ready and willing to work with anyone, amidst a heated election cycle, to make protecting Georgia students the utmost priority.

Over the course of the conference, the Georgia Emergency Management Administration (GEMA) released an updated school safety plan to be implemented across the entire state. This year an additional 300 School Resource Officers will be trained across the state of Georgia and an additional 6 active shooter training courses have also been put into place.

Gov. Kemp announced for the first time publicly today, that 2.6 million dollars of funding from the State Law Enforcement Training Grant program to enhance SRO training. Plus an additional 4.5 million dollars available in law enforcement grants on the state and local levels.

“These dollars can be spent on regional school safety training safety operations with reference guides to provide professional development in SRO instructors, course expansions, and more. These funds will be spent on training for school safety, use of force and de-escalation training, and mental health resource needs.”

Gov. Brian Kemp – (R) Georgia

This comes after a string of mass shootings across our county, and the death of 19 students and 2 teachers in the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Governor Kemp says that tragedy spurred him into action.

“So as both the father and governor, the thought of something like what happened in Uvalde that happened in one of our schools is my biggest concern. And I know it’s one that we all share. And as I’ve said and as our own state constitution says, protecting our citizens is paramount to our government.”

Gov. Brian Kemp – (R) Georgia

Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, has criticized Kemp for accepting large monetary donations from semi-automatic weapon distributors. Abrams recently rolled out her own school safety plan, which includes proposing a pay increase for teachers and law enforcement, while adding tighter ‘red flag’ laws.

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