On the heels of the Florida Legislature's approval of $97.5 million to hire more school resource officers, a slew of local law enforcement agencies are moving to end their cost sharing roles in paying for existing SROs. The moves are frustrating school district superintendents, who now warn the new funding won't result in as many new hires as expected.

• School Safety Bill architects did not foresee issue
• Districts saying few, if any, positions will be added
• Funds for Guardian program could be redirected

While the details of security agreements between districts and law enforcement agencies vary from county to county, sheriff's offices and police departments shoulder an average of one-third of the cost of employing school resource officers. 

With districts receiving the new state funding — part of the post-Parkland gun violence prevention package passed last month — many agencies are scaling back or eliminating their financial contributions, something the package's architects largely didn't foresee.

State Sen. Bill Montford (D-Tallahassee), who as head of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents serves as a legislative advocate for school districts, predicts the state's resource officer funding will need to be increased.

"When you look at what we're required to do and, more importantly, what's expected and what we need to ensure the safety of our children, I'm not sure that's enough," Montford said in an interview. "Clearly, it's going to be an expensive undertaking, and I'm convinced that next session we'll take a look at it and, if necessary, hopefully we'll adjust the budget to meet whatever needs are there."

The next regular legislative session, however, doesn't begin until March of next year. Without an immediate solution to their school resource officer funding issues, some districts are planning to add fewer, if any, additional positions.

There could be a short-term, albeit unlikely, fix: the Legislative Budget Commission, which meets outside of legislative sessions, could reallocate some of the $60 million intended for a controversial voluntary program to arm teachers to the school resource officer pot. Such a shift has been endorsed by Gov. Rick Scott.

"I've already talked to the Florida Legislature about redirecting funds that aren't used for this program for more law enforcement officers at our schools," Scott said in signing the gun legislation.