School Resource Officers, Crossing Guards Up For Discussion

BROOKSVILLE With possible budget cuts on the horizon for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office due to the passage of Amendment 1 and a drop in property values, local schools may be dropping two school resource officers and four crossing guards.

That's one option up for discussion at Tuesday's Hernando County School Board workshop, held at 1 p.m., where board members will hash out a "worst case scenario" recommendation if the sheriff's office budget is slashed.

In early March, Sheriff Richard Nugent sent a letter to district officials informing them of two programs that may be cut from the sheriff's office budget: the $72,421 currently spent on school resource officers and $979,586 spent on crossing guards.

The total additional cost for the school board to fully fund both programs would be $641,807 - and since the district is also in the process of dealing with budget cuts, it would not be feasible to pick up the entire amount, Superintendent Wayne Alexander said.

"I've recommended that we continue to pay what we've (been paying) this year, and just spread ourselves a little thinner, if we have to," he said. "We can't afford to spend any more money."

Nugent has placed a budget request to keep current funding in place for the sheriff's office portion of the program, meaning that there many not be a need for changes.

However, it's "impossible to say what's going to happen from the county's side of the budget," Alexander said, prompting the need for the discussion.

School resource officers investigate infractions on school property and present programs related to law enforcement or social problems for students, parents and the community, according to documents provided by the sheriff's office.

Currently, the sheriff's office pays $569,386 for SROs at Hernando County's four public high schools, plus a floating SRO to fill in when others are sick or on vacation.

The district pays the sheriff's office $410,200 for an SRO at the county's four middle schools, alternative school and two K-8 schools. This works out to $58,600 per SRO.

From 2006-08, SROs arrested 734 students at area middle and high schools. Central High School garnered the most arrests with 162, while Challenger K-8 had the least with seven, according to district documents.

There are currently seven SROs, one assigned to each school, with the exception of one assigned to float between Explorer K-8 and Challenger K-8 School of Science and Mathematics.

If the district is forced to pick up costs, the SROs would be eliminated at J.D. Floyd K-8 and STAR Education Center, the district's alternative school. All other SROs would be assigned two schools, instead of one.

There are currently 11 crossing guards stationed throughout the county, including near the high-traffic areas of Pine Grove, Eastside and Brooksville Elementary schools in Brooksville and near Deltona, J.D. Floyd and Spring Hill Elementary schools in Spring Hill.

However, if funding is eliminated for crossing guards - forcing the district to pick up an extra $70,000 - the district's safety and security coordinator Barry Crowley has recommended that four crossing guard positions could be eliminated if crosswalk lights are added outside four of the district's schools: Fox Chapel Middle School, Deltona Elementary School, Pine Grove Elementary School and Brooksville Elementary School.

Also up for discussion at the workshop is the second of the district's budget hearings, in which board members will begin reviewing the 2008-09 budget and brainstorming about how to compensate for a $2 million revenue shortfall.

The budget is expected to be tight, with officials having to roll back numbers to the amount spent during the 2006-07 school year due to a worsening economic climate across the state.

With Alexander's initial idea of implementing a four-day school week disbanded, he said he is not coming to the workshop with any specific solutions in mind.

"We'll have some budget discussions, but nothing's firm, at this point," he said.

Officials have said avenues for increased cost savings next year will include examining the district's current transportation routes and policies and assessing all positions to identify which positions could be eliminated to save money.

The cuts would not rely on layoffs, but instead would funnel teachers and staff between schools into open positions, and leave other positions unfilled.

At the board's regular meeting at 7 p.m. that evening, issues set to be discussed include approval of educational specifications for the 1,285-student new K-8 school set to be built on U.S. 19 in Spring Hill.

Both the workshop and meeting will take place in the board room at the district's headquarters, located at 919 N. Broad St. in Brooksville.