2023 EDUCATION EDITION
FUNDING SAFETY All three school districts have increased funding for safety and security for both the short- and long-term through annual budgets and bond packages.
Implementing new policies Prior to HB 3 and the creation of the district’s police department, EISD only had two school resource o cers, who were contracted through the Travis County Sheri ’s O ce. Logistically and nancially, it made sense to pivot as the cost for the two SROs was nearing $1 million annually, Arnett said. It will cost an additional $700,000 to create and implement the EISD police department, which the dis- trict will have to foot the bill for. “We can leverage that to actually provide law enforcement on all of our campuses,” Arnett said. “The economy of scale becomes greater and more a ordable when we create our own police department, and the other ben- et to that … is that we have more con- trol over those o cers.” Greer and Brent Kelly, the director of safety and security and soon-to-be lieutenant, said they both served in the Austin Police Department and have a reliable network of colleagues that could ll positions at the district police department. One recruit, Michael Cowden, has had multiple children go through EISD and will be serving as a police o cer at an elementary school once the police department is fully commissioned. “Having been a parent, I think it just enables you to see things as a parent, and it enables you to better help those children,” Cowden said. The EISD police department is not expected to be commissioned until late 2023 or early 2024, Arnett said. LTISD, on the other hand, has had an operational police department since 2021, and Chief of Police Andy Michael said he is working on hiring and sta - ing up his team ahead of the start of the school year. “Going into next school year, I will
have three o cers at the high school, and I will have two o cers at each middle school,” Michael said. “Three elementaries will permanently have an o cer assigned, and the remain- ing four elementaries will share two o cers.” The current state LISD has more than double the enrollment of EISD and LTISD com- bined at just over 43,000 students, according to the districts. LISD Superintendent Bruce Gearing said “there is no way” the district will be able to have an o cer at every cam- pus by the start of the school year. The district will have seven SROs across its campuses, leaving 40 with- out a guard, according to district o cials. Despite the additional funding as part of the new legislation, it will not be enough to fund LISD’s new mea- sures, meaning the board of trustees will likely have to amend the budget throughout the year to meet the new standard, Gearing said. When asked about how LISD will comply with HB 3, Chief Communi- cations O cer Crestina Hardie said the district is still guring out the next steps. Even with this shortfall, LISD has invested several millions of dollars over the past few years for security and monitoring services. Voters also approved a $762.8 million bond pack- age in May, which has $10.66 million earmarked for safety measures. EISD and LTISD have increased their budgets for security and monitoring services by 50% or more from 2019-20 to 2023-24, according to the district’s adopted and proposed budgets. Like LISD, EISD voters also approved a bond in May with $117 million
Lake Travis ISD Leander ISD Safety and monitoring budget funding
Eanes ISD
$3.5M
$3M
$2.5M
$2M
$1.5M $1M $500K $0
2019-20 2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Long-term funding
to be what other things we can do to assist sta , the kids, parents in the community,” Cowden said. Grant Crawford contributed to this report. $97.6M OF $703M TOTAL spent on school safety • Secure points of entry upgrades • Fencing • Door hardware replacements • Campus, districtwide technology • Crosswalk, pedestrian needs Lake Travis ISD: November 2022 bond $10.66M OF $762.8M TOTAL spent on school safety • Interior classroom door handles • Forced entry-resistant lm • Fencing • Panic alert system/lockdown button Leander ISD: May 2023 bond
Eanes ISD: May 2023 bond
$39,166,500 OF $131.43M TOTAL spent on school safety • Fire alarm system upgrades • Facility safety and security improvements • Security cameras, access control and emergency communication systems • Safety signage • Emergency medical equipment
SOURCES: EANES, LAKE TRAVIS & LEANDER ISDS COMMUNITY IMPACT
slated for facility safety and security improvements, security cameras, and emergency medical equipment. With the new school year underway and the bill’s e ective date looming, districts will continue to work to pro- vide safety, security and programs that aid in creating a conducive learning environment for students, according to district o cials. “We’re going to provide the security component and handle that. That’ll be the No. 1 priority. But I think the sec- ondary component of our job is going
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LAKE TRAVIS WESTLAKE EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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