Kentucky schools struggling to meet SRO law requirements

MADISONVILLE, Ky. (WFIE) – A legislation handed in April requires all Kentucky public colleges to have a college useful resource officer (SRO) at every college campus.

The legislation states the deadline for each constructing to have an SRO was August 1.

Of the 11 college Kentucky college districts within the Tri-State, solely three have sufficient SROs to cowl all their campuses.

“The difficulty that actually is going on right here in Owensboro and I’m certain throughout the state is that the native police pressure doesn’t have sufficient folks to supply up,” mentioned Owensboro Public Colleges Public Info Officer Jared Revlett.

OPS has simply two SROs to cowl its 12 buildings. Whereas college officers rotate officers to maintain college students and employees secure, a part of the explanation they don’t have sufficient is funding.

“That is simply one of many mandates that has come via from the legislature that faculty districts are required to satisfy with out extra funding,” Revlett mentioned.

Hopkins County Colleges has been in a position to put an officer in any respect 12 of its campuses.

Protected Colleges Coordinator Robert Carter says that’s as a result of they made SROs a precedence again in 2017.

“People who have the choice making energy got here collectively and mentioned we all know cash is a matter we all know funding is a matter, however is there something we are able to do this’s an excessive amount of in regard to the protection of our kids, and people folks mentioned we have to do what we are able to,” Carter mentioned.

Regardless that Hopkins County Colleges has met the requirement, and has for years, Carter says SROs might be onerous to search out.

“We name them unicorns,” Carter mentioned. “There are extra college useful resource officers which might be obtainable throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky than there are college useful resource officers obtainable to fill them.”

14 Information reached out to the Kentucky Division of Prison Justice Coaching, which oversees colleges and their useful resource officers.

We requested a number of instances if there could be penalties for districts that don’t have an SRO at every campus. They didn’t reply that query.

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