Governor DeSantis speaks at the University of Florida campus.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced additional funding aimed at securing Jewish day schools and historically Black colleges and universities.
In January, the DeSantis administration announced 134 Jewish day schools in the state had received $25 million to increase security measures on campuses.
The move followed DeSantis calling a special legislative session to ensure the protection of Jewish students amid rising antisemitism following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Now, DeSantis said he’s approved additional money in the state budget to make Jewish day schools safer, as Pro-Palestine protests continue across the state.
“I’m here to be able to say that we are also going to support an additional $20 million to continue our support of Jewish day schools in the upcoming 2024-2025 fiscal year budget. This is important for school safety,” DeSantis said.
In addition, DeSantis said he’s approved $20 million to improve safety at HBCUs in the state following a string of bomb threats in 2022 and 2023.
“Now we have under our purview, Florida A&M, but you also have HBCUs that are private, and we’re helping work with all of them, whether public and private, in school school security measures,” DeSantis said.
The governor said almost $570 million in his budget this year will go toward school safety and security measures on campuses throughout the state.
DeSantis also signed into law a bill that will make it easier for law enforcement officers to become school guardians.
The new law mandates instruction around how to use the Fortify Florida tool to report school threats, and bans the operation of drones over school campuses.
Read the legislation here:
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