Federal grants with awards ranging from several hundred thousand to tens of millions of dollars are available to help implement school safety measures, including improving school infrastructure and security, and strengthening emergency response planning and coordination.
Two federal funding programs are currently soliciting applications: One for states and the other for school districts.
The School Safety Enhancement (SSE) program was announced May 27 by the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human services on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. SSE is expected to fund 30 awards nationwide to state agencies defined by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The estimated award range of the SSE grants are $500,000 to $5 million each. Administrative costs are capped at 10 percent of the annual grant award. Funds will supplement and not replace existing non-federal funds. Grants also cannot be used for construction renovation or repair of school facilities.
Projects could include safety and security exercises conducted by states with local first responders, such as mock-casualty school bus incidents. Only one application per state is permitted.
Applications are due July 28, 2026, by 11:59 p.m. ET.
The other federal program benefiting individual public school and charter school districts as well as school boards, local governments and law enforcement agencies is the School Violence Prevention Program (SVVP) through the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS.
Eligible programs are emergency operations planning, active threat response coordination, and school safety assessments. The funding caps at $500,000 per award and requires matching local funds of at least 25 percent. Approximately $1 million of the available funding will be reserved for microgrants of up to $100,000 for school districts, including rural, tribal and low-resourced schools.
The SVPP application deadline is Aug. 11 at 4:59 p.m. ET.
How Federal Funding Could Be Used for School Bus Training
One program that could benefit from either state or local funding is Operation STEER in Texas. Diane Wilson, the safety and training specialist for the Region 6 Education Service Center in Huntsville, Texas, organizes and presents the annual training in coordination with a state grant and with local fire and police departments that consists of mock-casualty school bus crashes.
She noted SSE and SVVP emphasize prevention, preparedness training and coordinated safety efforts, all of which are key components of her events.
“While Operation STEER is currently a Texas-specific program, we are in the process of developing a broader initiative that will expand the model on a larger scale,” she added. “Given ESC’s role within the Texas education system and our partnership with [Texas Education Agency], I will believe there could be opportunities to position STEER as part of a larger school safety effort that aligns well with the objectives of this funding.”
Paul Hasenmeier, the fire chief and director of public safety for Hernando County, Florida, encouraged all states to apply for SSE in particular. He regularly works with school districts on developing mock casualty incidents that train both district personnel and first responders on topics such as extrication, fuel and fires. He collaborated with Wilson last summer to present a smoke in the school bus class at STN EXPO West in Reno, Nevada.
He added that districts providing such training, could expect to incur expenses, such as hiring a consultant to teach towing old school buses, acquiring school buses to cut up and any facility fees unless a school site is used. There are also some logistical items such as water, food, tent, chairs, etc., as needed. He also noted that fire departments wouldn’t charge to compensate for their firefighter salaries if they get to cut up a bus in training.
The STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada will open July 10 with a half-day seminar on best practices for training school bus drivers to respond to security threats. The session is led by Jim Levine, president and CEO of Levine Security Services, which produces the School Transportation Active-Threat Response Training, or S.T.A.R.T.
“These grants are golden opportunities for school transportation professionals to gain the advanced safety training we offer,” he added. “We did two email campaigns to state school transportation directors as well as sending out to our database of transportation and school officials announcing both grants.”
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