ST. PAUL – State Rep. Shane Mekeland, R-Clear Lake, announces school districts throughout Minnesota are receiving a combined $30 million from the state to fund safety initiatives.
The supplemental aid must be used for expenditures as authorized under the Safe Schools Levy. This includes a wide variety of facility and programming purposes such as police liaison services, counseling, school security, gang resistance education training and other crime prevention and safety measures for students and staff.
“Parents deserve to know their children will be safe at school, period,” Mekeland said. “This funding goes at it the right way by allowing people to decide at the local level how the dollars can best be used. Each school in Minnesota has its own unique safety situations and this money can help address local issues to keep our kids safe.”
The money comes from a one-time Safe Schools Supplemental Aid appropriation in the state’s new education budget. The $30 million will be provided to school districts and charter schools on a per-pupil basis. All school districts in Mekeland’s House District 15B will receive funding, including Annandale ($65,202), Becker ($98,996), Big Lake ($106,896), Elk River ($456,822), Foley ($66,797), Milaca ($62,214), Monticello ($144,455), Pierz ($40,907), Princeton ($115,458), Royalton ($32,544), Sauk Rapids-Rice ($157,240) and St. Cloud ($344,098).
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