ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County School District has reached a tentative agreement with five government municipalities to put School Resource Officers in schools rather than guardians. The contract will last two years.
“All of our schools will have SROs on their campuses, which we have always believed is the safest and best route”.
After months of negotiating, Superintendent Maria Vazquez says there’s a tentative agreement to put School Resource Officers, also known as SROs, at schools in Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Winter Park, and the Town of Windermere through the 2027 school year.
Those cities and towns came close to having trained guardians in schools rather than police officers because they couldn’t agree on who would pay for the SROs. Superintendent Vazquez says, “We are both faced with financial difficulties. We have to understand that their costs have gone up.”
Superintendent Vazquez says the district was also faced with a 28-million dollar deficit for next year. The district currently spends 23 million dollars on officers in more than 200 schools. That’s around 72 thousand dollars per officer.
“We increased by 20% what we were paying towards that, and we were able to come to an agreement that still does not pay the full cost but acknowledges the constraints we are both facing.”
We asked how much the new agreement will cost taxpayers but were told those details aren’t ready to be released.
Vazquez says elementary and middle schools have one SRO, while High Schools have two. “It’s clear they are the gold standard for safety and security.” Parents are relieved. “Vanessa Cutting says, “It makes me feel better. I’d rather have somebody in there that can take action. Verses someone who can’t.”
Sushma Mothukuri agrees, “The police have the powers that guardians do not have and we feel safe.”
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