Nixon cuts active shooter training budget for Missouri Public Schools

On June 6th, Nixon made the decision to cut the budget for active shooter training in Missouri Public Schools from $700, 000 to $100,000.

The drop in funds will not only affect active shooter training but school safety as well.

Up until this year, Missouri schools have been able to apply for grants to help fund their safety needs.

There were 240 school districts who applied last year and only 49 that were actually granted the funds.

School districts around the state may no longer have access to the free training provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. However, a few years ago The Missouri School Board Association took preventative measures. Director for the Center for Education Safety, Paul Fennewald explains, “We gave them tools so they could do their own active shooter training. We designed some templates for the presentation and drills, so they could then go back to their own communities and do this training without incurring a lot of expense or having to have us come in and do that for them.”

At this time, the Columbia and Sturgeon school districts will continue to have active shooter training because they hired outside safety instructors.

With only $100,000 to spend on school safety this year, Fennewald says the school board association has a pretty clear plan as to how they will spend most of the money. “One of the basic foundations of school safety is having a good strong emergency plan for a school, so if we can spend some of that money making sure schools have a solid emergency plan to address everything from active shooter training to tornado drills.”