Iowa governor announces $100 million initiative toward school safety

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced on Tuesday a $100 million investment toward school safety in the state. 

In a statement, Reynolds said the new initiative will provide vulnerability risk assessments free of charge for all 1,500 state schools and will establish a School Safety Improvement Fund that will provide up to $50,000 per school to implement recommended safety measures.

Of the $100 million, $75 million will go toward a School Safety Improvement Fund, $6 million will go toward digital critical incident mapping technology, and $1.5 million will go toward digital applications and software for reporting and intelligence, according to the statement. 

Reynolds also noted that respective school districts can combine the new funding with their Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding allocations to cover additional costs to implement safety improvements. 

“Every family should be able to confidently send their children to school knowing they’ll be safe,”  Reynolds said at a press conference. “These investments will make a tremendous impact on our ability to prevent violence in schools while also taking steps to ensure schools and communities are in the best position possible to respond to an active event.” 

Reynolds added that the initiative will also build on the Governor’s School Safety Bureau, which supports all schools and law enforcement partners with prevention, training and response strategies. 

A bipartisan group of senators announced Sunday that they have reached a framework deal on legislation aimed at curbing gun violence.

The framework includes funding for school safety resources, expanded background checks for buyers under the age of 21, incentives for states to implement their own red flag laws, penalties for straw purchases of firearms and new protections for domestic violence victims.

Reynolds added that work must be done to address the issue of gun violence across this country. 

“Mass shootings and other violent acts committed against innocent people are difficult to understand,”  she said. “But work must be done to answer the question why they happen and what can be done to prevent this type of behavior.”