Lee school district seeks federal funds for safety upgrades
The School District of Lee County is seeking federal dollars through Community Project Funding for hardening school facilities and enhancing safety and security.
The two requests from the district include enhancing safety and security by upgrading the district’s outdated intercom systems, and hardening school facilities through secure entry vestibules, “enclosed spaces between exterior and interior doorways.”
The upgraded intercom systems will address technical challenges at 57 schools, School District of Lee County Government Relations Director Krissy Houlihan said, adding the upgrade will protect approximately 57,000 students and 11,400 staff members across the district.
The school district is requesting $7 million, 14% of the total project.
The second request, for 65 secure entry vestibules, is for $10,050,000 in Community Project Funding for phase one. The total projected cost is $23.4 million.
According to back up material, “these transformative security enhancements will establish a robust defense system that actively prevents unauthorized building access, providing immediate protection while creating buffer zones that can save precious minutes during crisis situations when every second counts.”
Representatives from Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm the district hired to represent its interests on the federal level, walked the board through the process.
Partner Tracie Pough said the district has really strong projects with both of them falling under the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Education.
“We are in a time when having federal representation could not be more critical because of all the varied changes that are taking place with this administration,” she said, adding that she believes that Ballard Partners has their finger on the pulse of the changes and influences.
Pough said during the school board’s Tuesday meeting that with a new administration, Trump’s administration, things are a little bit slower than they normally would be with the president submitting his budget to Congress.
“Once that budget is submitted the process formally begins. The appropriations committee then has the opportunity to set the budget limits for each of the 12 appropriation bills,” she said.
Pough said there is mandatory spending, predetermined spending, which makes up about 72% of federal spending, and 24% is discretionary spending – community project funding.
“Once the appropriations committee sets the funding numbers for those 12 bills, the process begins,” she said.
Pough said the community project funding has guidelines set by the appropriations committee giving each member the opportunity to file in the House and the Senate.
Ballard Partners Partner Dan McFaul said the House has set a target of Memorial Day to get the reconciliation process completed, with the Senate being a little further behind.
The Senate, less of a fiscal impact and fewer cuts through the process go into July.
“This takes up valuable time in the House and Senate,” McFaul said. “It slows down the appropriations process. The time on the floor to pass the bills is getting limited.”
He said he anticipates a December timeline for the full appropriations package to pass in the House and Senate.
“We will have some indications along the way as the House and Senate pass individual bills,” McFaul said. “Until signed by the president, it is not law.”