Lawmakers back school-safety grants and new mental-health supports under Act 44 framework

Senator Scott Martin, who said he authored Act 44 of 2018, told the Keystone Education Report that the school safety and security grant program and the ‘safe to say’ reporting tool remain priorities and that investments should be assessed to broaden uses beyond capital upgrades.

Martin said a legislative study by the Legislative Budget and Finance Commission reviewed where safety investments have gone and suggested the state consider more flexibility—for example, allowing grant dollars to support mental-health staff and programs that intervene before incidents escalate. "It's always a focus of ours,” Martin said of school safety, and he described bipartisan support for sustained investment.

Representative Brian Cutler and Representative Pete Schwire said they will continue to fund the PCCD school safety fund and are working on measures to expand pipelines into guidance counseling, school psychology and social work to reduce staffing shortages that limit preventative services. Cutler described recent local incidents—bomb threats and swatting reports—that underscore the need for both physical security and mental-health supports.

Why it matters: Lawmakers framed safety as a hybrid issue of capital improvements (locks, cameras) and human services (counselors, social workers) and said budget and policy choices should address both.

What’s next: Legislators reported plans for legislation to ease certification or recruitment barriers for school mental-health professionals and said they will consider allowing broader grant uses in upcoming budget negotiations. No final statutory changes or budget actions were announced on the program during the interview.