The Governor’s Office releases more than $500,000 in grant funds to help jurisdictions enforce school bus safety laws.

The Governor’s Office recently released its appropriations for the School Bus Safety Enforcement Fund. Next year, thanks to leadership from the Governor’s Office and advocacy from MACo, local jurisdictions may apply to use the funds for previously a variety of school safety purposes.

As described by the Governor’s Office,

Following the 2016 legislative session, Governor Hogan signed SB 83, which renamed the School Bus Safety Enforcement Fund to the School Safety Enforcement Fund. The legislation will expand the purposes of the Fund, provide localities with additional flexibility to address school safety needs, and allow county boards of education, in addition to law enforcement entities, to apply for the grants. The changes will take effect October 1, 2016, and will be incorporated into the next notice of funding availability for the program.

MACo supported expanding the purpose of the School Bus Safety Enforcement Fund, with an amendment to ensure continued geographic distribution of the funding allocations. The amendment was accepted by the Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention and included in the law as enacted.

For more information, see the Governor’s Office press release and Conduit Street‘s previous post, MACo Supports School Safety Fund, Seeks Regional Distribution