Indiana Awards Safety Grants
to Schools
School safety continues to be a top priority for lawmakers as we look for ways to ensure Indiana schools have the necessary tools to protect our students and teachers from harm.
The Indiana Secured School Safety Board recently approved more than $14 million in matching grants for schools that qualified for the Secured School Safety Grant Program (SSSG).
The funds include an additional $5 million allocated by House Enrolled Act 1230, which I supported and the Indiana General Assembly passed earlier this year.
The SSSG provides matching grants that can be used to employ a school resource officer, conduct a threat assessment, and/or purchase equipment to restrict access to the school or expedite the notification of first responders.
In addition, Gov. Holcomb recently created a programthat will make handheld metal detectors available at no cost to schools that want them. This new program will make one handheld metal detector device available for every 250 students in traditional public, charter and accredited non-public schools by request.
Schools can submit requests by following instructions found here. The first order for the metal detector devices will be placed on July 19 for delivery by mid-August. Orders placed after that date will be fulfilled later in the fall.
School safety is of the utmost importance to me, and I hope to see these grants positively impact our students, teachers and schools.
Click here to view the list of schools that received a grant.
Indiana Transparency Portal Receives Update
Indiana Auditor of State Tera Klutz recently updated the Indiana Transparency Portal (ITP), which is a website that provides Hoosiers with a way to take a look at the state’s finances.
The transformation includes interactive dashboards that provide overviews of some of the more popular and most complex financial information about state revenue and expenditures.
On the ITP, Hoosiers can access a breadth of information ranging from the number of state employees, to employee salaries, to vendor payments, to revenue reports and so much more. Some of the new information to the ITP includes displaying the top vendors statewide and by agency, agency-to-agency transfers, and purchase and travel card expenses summarized by agency.
Enhancements to the site will continue over the next year.
To read more about the updates, click here.
Safe Haven Law Saves Another Infant’s Life
On July 1, an infant was safely surrendered to the Decatur Township Fire Department under the Safe Haven Law.
The Safe Haven Law, which was created in 2000, allows parents who feel they are unable to care for an infant less than 30 days old to leave the child with staff at a designated safe haven location with no questions asked. This enables a person to give up an unwanted infant anonymously without fear of arrest or prosecution. As long as there are no signs of intentional abuse on the baby, no information is required of the person.
Once the baby is examined and given medical treatment, if needed, the Indiana Department of Child Services will take the child into custody through Child Protective Services where it will be placed with a caregiver.
During the 2018 legislative session, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 340, which allows fire stations to use baby boxes. Baby boxes are safety incubators where people can anonymously surrender their newborn babies. This legislation expands the Safe Haven Law by allowing any fire station staffed 24/7 to install these boxes.
For more information on the Safe Haven Law, click here.
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