School board picks ‘status quo’ SRO plan after review of three contract scenarios

The Marion County School Board directed staff to pursue Scenario 1 for school resource officer (SRO) coverage — keeping the current arrangement with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Ocala Police Department and Belleview Police Department — after a presentation comparing three contract scenarios and their costs.

Board members said keeping officers assigned by all three agencies preserves community relationships and continuity for students and staff while the board examines cost and equity issues.

Mister McFadden, a district staff member who presented the cost scenarios, told the board the 2022–25 contract had involved 40 MCSO SROs, 21 Ocala Police Department SROs and 1 Belleview officer and that total SRO costs under that contract were roughly $4.9 million. For the 2025–28 options he presented: keeping the current mix (Scenario 1) would require about 41 MCSO SROs at $75,000 each (roughly $3,075,000 for the county portion), 22 OPD officers at about $95,000 each (a roughly $2,000,000 total for Ocala) and one Bellevue position (about $74,000 in year one). Scenario 2 — shifting all SROs to MCSO — was estimated near $5.0 million; Scenario 3 blended coverage with MCSO covering unincorporated and OPD covering city secondary schools and produced a similar five-year total around $5.2 million.

Sheriff Billy Woods, answering questions about capacity and service, urged the board to “take the money out of it” and said the “perfect scenario is one entity that oversees something, not multiple,” but he also said multiple agencies working together was an acceptable second-best model. “There’s value in each of them,” he said, and promised deputies would be placed in schools if the sheriff’s office were asked to provide more SROs.

Ocala Police Chief Mike Balkin argued for city officers in city schools, saying city SROs have a “vested interest” in the neighborhoods and share intelligence with patrol and detectives. He also described city budget pressures — supervisory staffing, summer coverage and overtime — that make OPD costs higher than the sheriff’s quoted $75,000 per position.

Board members repeatedly framed SRO funding as a community, not a school-only, responsibility. Several members said they preferred to keep the current tri-agency model for the coming contract cycle to preserve relationships and community coverage while exploring possible cost-sharing adjustments with municipalities and further discussions with OCALA city leadership about overtime and detail charges.

The board did not take a formal vote but the chair directed staff to move forward with drafting the contract under Scenario 1 and to continue negotiations and follow-up conversations with the agencies. The chair also asked staff to bring back updates and requested a two-year review window so the board could revisit options and any emerging alternatives.

The board emphasized they are not considering guardian programs as the primary model; Sheriff Woods cautioned guardians or private security would not match law enforcement training and urged caution in experimenting with untested security models.

Next steps: staff will continue negotiations with the three agencies, pursue follow-up talks with Ocala officials about overtime/detail language, and return with contract language, cost clarifications and an updated timeline.