Wisconsin's Office of School Safety Funded Through 2024

Wednesday, September 6th, 2023 -- 1:00 PM

(Bob Hague, WRN) Wisconsin’s school safety office remains in place, for now.

The Office of School Safety and its Speak Up, Speak Out 24 hour tip line remain in place this school year. Director Trish Kelton says they can make a difference. “In previous acts of school violence, it often starts with a grievance or an upset. We believe that if we resolve those issues early, we can prevent tragedies.”

Kilpin says they can help keep schools safe, “In previous acts of school violence, it often starts with a grievance or an upset. We believe that if we resolve those issues early, we can prevent tragedies.”

Attorney General Josh Kaul says long term funding for the office remains in doubt, “We had asked in the current budget for approximately $2.2 million. And just to put that in perspective, the state currently has a surplus of about $4 billion. So this is something that we certainly can afford. It's a matter of priorities.”

Kilpin says the Speak Up, Speak Out 24 hour tip line can be an effective tool, “If there is a concern in a school district, and one child reports it to us, that is excellent. But if there's a concern in the school district, and eight children report that to us, it tells us that that school has a healthy reporting culture, and that they're promoting the concept of getting help and support.”

Attorney General Kaul says Republicans in the legislature have not provided long term funding for the office, “If the program goes down, it's not as easy as flipping a switch and restarting things. A few months later, or six months later, or a year later. It's going back to the starting block in a lot of ways and having to start from scratch. We don't want to see that happen.”

For now, Kaul says $1,340,000 in reallocated American Rescue Plan Act funds will extend operations through the end of 2024.  

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