Pennsylvania is setting aside money to help private schools with security needs after requests for help, including from Jewish day schools near the Pittsburgh synagogue that was the site of a mass shooting.
Budget-related legislation signed last week by Gov. Tom Wolf earmarks $3.2 million for intermediate units to award to private schools through the Department of Education’s safe schools grant program.
The Jewish education advocacy organization Teach PA says the program awarded $459,000 to private schools last year.
The program is $11 million total this year. That’s separate from a year-old $60 million school security grant program in Pennsylvania spurred by last year’s high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Jewish day school parents and staffers have said they’re particularly alarmed about security after synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and California.
