Hunter
06/15/22
Governor Kim Reynolds announced $100 million in school safety funding to support Iowa’s 327 public school districts and 183 non-public and independent schools during a press conference with the Department of Public Safety, Department of Education and Homeland Security and Emergency Management Tuesday.
A release from the Governor’s office says the new funding will provide vulnerability risk assessments free of charge for all 1,500 K-12 school buildings in the state and create a School Safety Improvement Fund making up to $50,000 available per school building to implement recommended safety measures.
The funding also builds upon the foundation of the Governor’s School Safety Bureau to support all schools and law enforcement partners with prevention, training and response strategies.
Iowa Starting Line points out that at the end of her press conference, Reynolds blasted President Joe Biden’s policies, despite the fact that she was using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for her school safety measures. Last year, she slammed the Rescue Plan as a “blue state bailout.”
Reynolds, like other Republican governors, has been taking credit for new projects funded by Biden policies while also criticizing those same policies. She also knocked Biden for inflation and what she called “soaring gas and food prices,” something Republicans often blame on Biden’s Rescue Plan and infrastructure spending.
A reporter asked Reynolds to clarify whether the Legislature ever passed the funding; she said no, but called the plan a “wonderful use of some of the funds that are coming into the state.”