INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday that the Indiana Secured School Safety Board (SSSG) has approved the distribution of more than $24 million to support school safety initiatives in all 92 counties.
The Board unanimously voted to split more than $24 million across 499 schools/districts, representing a record number of schools impacted in one year through the Secured School Safety Grant Program. To date, $187 million in state funding has been dedicated to the matching grant program since it was created in 2013.
“Since this program began, the focus has been on listening to the needs of school districts while partnering with them to invest in the safety of Hoosier schools,” said Gov. Eric J. Holcomb. “Indiana continues to be a leader in school safety resources made available and continues to step up to support students and staff.”
The amount of funding dedicated to the program for 2025-2026 will be determined in the next legislative session. However, the program has funded school safety initiatives at record levels in the last four years. Last year, 474 schools split an allocation of $29.8 million.
This year, the total amount of eligible funding requests exceeded the amount of the program’s funding. Priority was given to first-time applicant schools to the SSSG Program, and they were fully funded for their top priority requests. Charter school groups were capped at $100,000 in funding for all schools in the group. The remaining schools that apply to the fund regularly were funded at 81% for their top priority items.
As in previous years, most school applicants prioritized the addition of school resource officers, which accounted for nearly $17 million of all requests. As mandated by recent legislation, the seven requests for firearms training were granted as a priority.
