2006 Code of Virginia § 9.1-110 - School Resource Officer Grants Program and Fund

9.1-110. School Resource Officer Grants Program and Fund.

A. From the funds appropriated for such purpose and from the gifts,donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf, there isestablished (i) the School Resource Officer Grants Program, to beadministered by the Board, in consultation with the Board of Education, and(ii) a special nonreverting fund within the state treasury known as theSchool Resource Officer Incentive Grants Fund, hereinafter known as the"Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller, andany moneys remaining in the Fund at the end of the biennium shall not revertto the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. Interest earned on suchfunds shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it.

Subject to the authority of the Board to provide for its disbursement, theFund shall be disbursed to award matching grants to local law-enforcementagencies and local school boards that have established a collaborativeagreement to employ uniformed school resource officers, as defined in 9.1-101, in middle and high schools within the relevant school division. TheBoard may disburse annually up to five percent of the Fund for the trainingof the school resource officers. School resource officers shall be certifiedlaw-enforcement officers and shall be employed to help ensure safety, toprevent truancy and violence in schools, and to enforce school board rulesand codes of student conduct.

B. The Board shall establish criteria for making grants from the Fund,including procedures for determining the amount of a grant and the requiredlocal match. Any grant of general funds shall be matched by the locality onthe basis of the composite index of local ability to pay. The Board may adoptguidelines governing the Program and the employment and duties of the schoolresource officers as it deems necessary and appropriate.

(1999, c. 512, 9-171.1; 2000, c. 785; 2001, cc. 33, 844; 2002, cc. 836,868.)