New resource officers will cost $170,000 for salaries and $337,000 for equipment

Posted on April 20, 2018

While the Taylor County School District will not participate in the voluntary “school guardian” program — which would have provided training and allowed certain staff members to carry weapons at school — school district officials and Taylor County Sheriff Wayne Padgett are seeking a way to fund as many as six additional school resource officers.

Two weeks after delivering an update to the Taylor County School Board about the multitude of new state mandates facing the district as a result of the “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act” passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott, Superintendent Danny Glover Jr. stood side-by-side with Padgett to present the Taylor County Commission with the potential financial impacts.

PHOTO: Sheriff Wayne Padgett (far left) and Superintendent of Schools Danny Glover Jr. (second from left) addressed the Taylor County Commission Tuesday morning, requesting financial assistance to help cover the cost of hiring as many as six new resource officers for local schools — including two officers at Taylor County High School and a supervisor to oversee the rest. A wide-ranging bill passed in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School requires a resource officer at every school. The local cost of the proposed plan would be $170,000 in annual salary expenses and $337,000 for cars and equipment.

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