As a school leader, you know that school safety is a non-negotiable priority. But often, securing the funding you need to put effective, comprehensive safety solutions in place can be a challenge. You’re tasked with safeguarding your community, but are more often than not feeling the constraint of tight budgets and competing budgetary priorities.
The good news? Funding for school safety initiatives is more accessible than you might think—if you know where to look and how to navigate the process.
Information gathering is the first step to securing the funding you need to make school safety improvements a reality for your campus. That’s why Eastern DataComm is proud to partner with ZeroNow, a 501(c)6 alliance dedicated to ending school violence through collaboration, innovation, and advocacy. Together, we’re working to make schools safer by providing cutting-edge technology solutions like video surveillance, access control, environmental sensors, VoIP phone systems, and emergency notification systems, along with insight and guidance on the funding to make those upgrades and initiatives possible.
This month, we’re sharing our lessons learned from ZeroNow’s recent webinar, Funding School Safety Initiatives: Grants and Beyond.
If you’ve ever wondered how to fund those safety, security, and emergency communications upgrades that would make all the difference when every second counts, we’re here to help. You’ll find the insight you need as we explore actionable strategies to secure the funding you need to better protect your students, staff, and community.
Let’s get to it.
About the EDC + ZeroNow Partnership
At Eastern DataComm, our mission is to keep schools connected and protected through innovative safety and communications technologies. For over thirty-five years, we’ve worked with schools across the country to implement solutions that empower clear communication, enhance situational awareness, and save lives during emergencies.
Our partnership with ZeroNow reflects our commitment to advancing school safety. ZeroNow connects educators, security specialists, and technology experts to enhance collaboration and develop new solutions to keep schools safe today and make them safer for tomorrow. By partnering with this amazing organization, we amplify our impact and create real change in school safety technology and policy.
As Al Harnisch, CEO of Eastern DataComm, puts it: “We share ZeroNow’s dedication to providing educational resources to our customers and partners. We understand the magnitude and reach their decisions have when it comes to protecting young minds and educators.”
So naturally, when ZeroNow provides information and insight that can benefit our audience and clients, we connect with them and bring the latest updates right to you.
Now, let’s explore funding opportunities for creating safer schools and districts!
Challenges in School Safety Funding
While there are opportunities for school safety funding, it’s imperative to be aware of the potential obstacles you may face as you source funding options.
Competing Interests: School budgeting often involves addressing priorities like mental health, special education, and infrastructure. Understanding how to advocate for school safety improvements within these competing interests is a valuable step toward fostering a more secure school community.
Funding Volatility: Uncertainty in state or federal funding can make long-term planning difficult. Identifying workarounds to deal with this volatility can help make big-picture funding decisions easier.
Budgetary Structures: School safety budgets are often spread across multiple departments (e.g., counseling, facilities, IT) rather than being a dedicated line item. For example, North Penn School District streamlined its budgeting process by creating a dedicated budget for school safety, which included resources, capital, and technology allocations.
Transparency Risks: Taking a transparent stance on school safety may lead to public backlash, but it’s essential for building trust with stakeholders. Exploring how to be transparent and responsible is a necessary step in keeping schools and communities safe.
One-Time Grants: Jumpstarting Your Safety Initiatives
One-time grants help you kickstart school safety projects and fund critical infrastructure like video surveillance systems, access control solutions, and emergency notification systems. Let’s explore how to make the most of these funding opportunities.
Federal and State Grants
Programs like the STOP School Violence Act and state-specific safety grants provide substantial funding for school safety initiatives. These grants often prioritize technology solutions that enhance situational awareness and emergency response.
Private Foundations
Many private organizations offer grants specifically for school safety. These organizations can help you address your safety budget priorities more effectively. As we learned in the webinar, grants are a great way to fund capital projects.
Pro Tip
Start by identifying your district’s most pressing safety needs. Use tools like ZeroNow’s Path to Safer Schools framework or connect with our Eastern DataComm team to collaboratively assess vulnerabilities and prioritize investments with expert guidance.
Long-Term Funding Strategies: Building a Sustainable Safety Plan
While there’s no doubt one-time grants are a great starting point, long-term funding strategies allow your safety initiatives to remain effective and cutting-edge.
Let’s go over some ways to create your sustainable safety solution financing roadmap.
Incorporate Safety into Annual Budgets
When you treat safety as a core element of your district’s budget—not an afterthought—you’ll find that you can more effectively allocate funds annually for maintenance, upgrades, and staff training.
Leverage E-Rate Funding
Did you know that the federal E-Rate program can help cover the cost of VoIP phone systems and network infrastructure? These are, of course, critical components of a comprehensive safety plan in any building.
Explore Bond Measures
Voter-approved bonds allow districts to fund large-scale safety projects. The key here is to directly communicate the real-life benefits of these investments so that your community rallies behind them in support.
Navigating Federal and State Opportunities
There is, no doubt, some complexity to federal and state funding programs. But these are also some of the most reliable sources of support for school safety initiatives.
So, if you’re looking to create opportunities for more dependable financing, here’s how to navigate these opportunities:
Stay Informed
Be sure you routinely check websites like Grants.gov and your state’s Department of Education for updates on available funding and schedule deadlines for relevant applications.
Partner with Experts
Don’t feel like you have to pursue these funding sources alone. Work with organizations like ZeroNow and Eastern DataComm to help identify grants that align with your district’s needs and the steps you need to take to reach your funding goals.
Pro Tip
Attend webinars and workshops or schedule consultations with these experts to stay up-to-date on funding opportunities and best practices. These learning opportunities will help you gain critical insights to better address your specific needs.
Transparency and Communication in School Safety
Building and maintaining transparency allows you to build trust with your community. Establish a regular cadence of communication, such as quarterly public forums, to share safety data and trends (e.g., discipline incidents, weapons, or assault cases). While over-communicating may feel excessive to some, it’s better than risking accusations of hiding information.
Use data-driven decision-making to demonstrate the return on investment of your safety initiatives. For example, North Penn School District shares discipline data quarterly, as board-adopted policy, to keep stakeholders informed and engaged.
Community Partnerships
Public-private partnerships can significantly enhance school safety while stretching limited budgets.
Community Engagement: Partner with local businesses, nonprofits, and law enforcement to fund no-cost programs. For example, North Penn School District partnered with their DA’s office to run an Innovative Youth Aid panel program across its secondary schools, which required no monetary investment from the district.
Shared Resources: Collaborate with neighboring districts to share the cost of safety solutions. This approach reduces expenses while still delivering high-quality results.
Structuring School Safety Budgets
There are some suggestions to consider when crafting your school safety budget for the coming year.
Dedicated budgeting allows for the provision of resources, technology, and capital as detailed above. It’s also important to focus on prioritization so that school leaders can dedicate the right resources to the cause and ensure priorities become line items in the budget.
Providing common sense solutions allows you to focus on practical, non-political solutions that the community can easily digest. Using a zero-based budget to prioritize safety initiatives, like the North Penn school district utilizes each year, helps to align your needs with community expectations.
Instituting monthly or quarterly committees to hold meetings on this topic can ensure that regular oversight occurs. These meetings can review safety priorities and help to ensure continuous improvement in your school’s security. As we learned in the webinar, the District hosts monthly committee meetings to oversee school safety efforts and foster transparency and trust within the school community.
Transparency and Communication in School Safety
Building and maintaining transparency allows you to build trust with your community. To make this possible, you can establish a regular cadence of a variety of communication and feedback opportunities, such as newsletters, quarterly public forums and school-based efforts to share and listen. This webinar describes the example of sharing discipline incidents, as other districts do when they share weapons or assault cases. While over-communicating can feel excessive to some, it is far better than the alternative, which can feel like hiding information.
The webinar emphasized that communication is not the same as engagement. We need to establish ways to maintain a healthy feedback loop.
Also, be sure to use data-driven decision-making to demonstrate your return on investment regarding any safety initiatives you share. This keeps stakeholders informed and engaged with you on an ongoing basis.
The Role of School Safety Directors
School Safety Directors can play a critical role in shaping a secure learning community within your district. These professionals can hold cabinet-level positions within your superintendent’s team so that their voice is heard when it comes to key decisions. They should value the process of building relationships with students, staff, and the community at large. And they should advocate for legislative support that can fund safety priorities.
Proactive or Reactive School Safety Initiatives? The Choice Is Clear
Proactive safety measures, while they can feel risky at the outset, are essential for keeping your community safe and ahead of the curve when it comes to security processes to address evolving threats.
Transparency and data-driven decision-making can mitigate any potential backlash from your community about “unnecessary expenditures”, and a holistic approach that addresses the physical, training, and staffing needs of your organization allows for protection that meets all of your needs.
There is undeniable value in investing in prevention rather than reaction. But it’s also essential to have the data on your side as you go into advocacy for budget line items.
Your Path to Safer Schools Starts Here
Securing funding for school safety solutions doesn’t have to be something that you take on alone. And it doesn’t need to feel overwhelming, either. When you understand and use the right strategies and partnerships, you can access the resources you need to create a safer learning environment for your students and staff.
At Eastern DataComm, we’re here to help you every step of the way—from identifying funding opportunities to implementing cutting-edge safety technologies. Together with ZeroNow, we’re committed to making school violence a thing of the past.
And we want you to be a part of that change.
Take the Next Step
As a ZeroNow Partner, Eastern DataComm shares the vision of creating connected and protected school environments.
We offer cutting-edge security technologies and provide expert assistance in navigating the grant application process to help you secure the funding you need.
How We Can Support Your School:
Grant Navigation: Our team can help connect you with relevant resources and refer you to grant specialists to help guide you through the fund-securing process.
Advanced Safety Solutions: Eastern DataComm provides cutting-edge security technologies like video surveillance, access control systems, cellular repeaters, and environmental sensors to enhance school safety.
Ongoing Support: From planning to implementation, we’re here to help you every step of the way.
Together with ZeroNow, we’re committed to creating safer schools now and in the future. And we can’t wait to ensure you and your learning community are among them.
Because when it comes to school safety, we’re all in this together.
To learn more, contact us here.
About ZeroNow
ZeroNow is the safety community’s movement to end harmful events in our schools. As a member-based non-profit, ZeroNow facilitates collaboration between industry, associations, and education partners to foster new solutions to keep our campuses safe and secure.
ZeroNow brings safety assets and education safety leaders together to establish the standards for school safety technology. We drive a unified voice to educate policymakers on the need for increased investment in school safety. For more information, please visit www.zeronow.org.
