AG Kaul announces Office of School Safety funding secured for 2023-24 school year

 

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- The Office of School Safety has secured enough funding to keep going for at least one more year but officials say this is only a temporary funding fix.

Attorney General Josh Kaul made the announcement Wednesday morning, Aug. 16, saying $1.34 million in federal funding has been re-allocated to the office. 

The money is coming from the American Rescue Plan Act and needed to be used before a deadline. This funding will ensure the Office of Safety stays open through 2024, when it originally only had funding to stay open through the end of this year. However, Kaul says it's up to Wisconsin lawmakers to include the Office of Safety in the next budget, which he says they need to act on now.

Kaul told CBS 58 that prioritizing school safety isn't just his public duty, but his parental duty as well.

"My kids are going to be starting 4^th grade and 1^st grade this year and the kinds of safety challenges that my kids and kids across the state and the country have to worry about are just fundamentally different from the ones that I had to worry about growing up," he said.

Kaul says since it launched in 2018, the office has become a critical resource for Wisconsin students, teachers and families, especially with the speak up, speak out confidential hotline.