July 11, 2022
Harrisburg, July 11, 2022 – With a record state investment in violence prevention spending in the new budget, state Sen. Jim Brewster announced today that he has been re-appointed to the School Safety and Security Committee, the chief conduit for intervention programs in the state.
“We’re at a critical time for public safety after a surge in violence that accompanied the pandemic,” Brewster said. “The School Safety and Security Committee played a central role in reviewing and assessing intervention and prevention efforts and steering state funds where it can be most effective.”
The 17-member committee was created through Act 44 of 2018 with a goal to craft policies and provide grants to curb school and community violence. The committee works under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD).
In July 2019 Senator Brewster sent a letter to the committee asking them to establish baseline standards of safety for every school in the Commonwealth to keep students, teachers, and administrators safe. Specifically, he asked for them to establish physical baselines, including items such as door locks and cameras; mental health baselines, including school counselors and psychologists; and environmental baselines, including air quality monitors and lead/mold abatement.
“During my time on the School Safety Committee, I have been advocating for establishing baseline criteria to ensure we are best utilizing money,” Brewster said. “I am thrilled to see that for the first time the funds will be prioritized to get all schools to baseline.”
Last year, the state committed a record $30 million to the school safety effort, and this year’s state budget more than triples that amount to $105 million with the help of America Rescue Plan funds.
“To reduce community violence, we need to address the core causes,” Brewster said. “Poverty, mental health, and addiction are serious drivers of crime in our communities, and this committee is investing additional funds to address these issues.”
In awarding grants last year, Brewster said the committee took a broad approach to what it perceived as a complex issue with a wide range of causes. The committee funded the efforts of large academic institutions that study the problem from a data-driven level, as well as small, grassroots efforts with budgets in the thousands and feet on the street.
As a senator, Brewster has been at the forefront on school safety issues. His appointment was made by Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa.
June 16, 2022
Harrisburg − June 15, 2022 − Senator Jim Brewster announced today that he is the prime co-sponsor of legislation aimed at improving student mental health. This bill seeks to put more school-based mental health care programs and professionals into classrooms.
Senator Brewster and Senator Williams are co-sponsoring SB 1285, which will focus the majority of grants awarded through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s School Safety and Security program for the 2022-23 school year on funding applications for projects that support students’ behavioral and mental health.
“As a member of Pennsylvania’s School Safety and Security Committee, I have been a leading advocate for more resources for mental health services in our schools,” Brewster said. “This legislation will direct a majority of funding for 2022-2023 to school districts for additional mental and behavioral health programming.”
This legislation is modeled after a similar step that the General Assembly took in 2020, when it temporarily focused these grants on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even before the pandemic, students have been telling us that there is a growing youth mental heath crisis,” said Senator Williams. “Safe2Say reports let us know that bullying, suicide, and self-harm are three of the biggest problems facing our students right now, and it’s time for the General Assembly to take action to address these. We’ve talked about how the pandemic has caused a mental health crisis in our students for over two years—it’s long past time we start taking action to fund the services that can provide immediate assistance to those students.”
June 16, 2020
Harrisburg – June 16, 2020 – State Sen. Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny/Westmoreland) said today that the School Safety and Security Committee approved the framework to distribute more than $150 million of a total of $215 million in federal CARES Act funding.
“The action taken today by the School Safety and Security Committee is important because it will help speed the distribution of hundreds of millions in federal CARES Act funds to address pandemic related expenses,” Brewster said. “These dollars will go as grants to schools and help reduce community violence.”
Brewster said that all school districts will get a mandatory minimum grant of $120,000 plus additional funds based on daily student enrollment. Other school entities will get a $90,000 grant.
“I am pleased that these funds will be soon rolling out of Harrisburg and into local school districts,” Brewster said. “We must remain steadfast in our commitment to help school districts deal with COVID-19 expenses, while we work with community groups to stem violence.”
Brewster has served on the committee that distributes school safety grants since its inception.
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Contact: Tim Joyce
Phone: 412 380-2242
Email: Timothy.Joyce@pasenate.com
February 26, 2020
Harrisburg – February 26, 2020 – State Sen. Jim Brewster today said that $1.7 million in state school safety grants will soon be distributed to local schools.
Brewster, who represents portions of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, serves as a member of the School Safety and Security Committee. He has been the General Assembly’s foremost advocate for addressing school safety issues. The funds were approved by the committee at its meeting today.
“These grants are critical tools that can be used to protect students, teachers, administrators and visitors to school facilities,” Brewster said. “As a member of the committee that approves these grants, I am keenly aware of the needs of area schools and committed to helping improve security.”
Brewster said that he would continue to work to adjust competitive grant criteria so that more school districts can access maximum funding.
The following school districts in Brewster’s area will receive competitive and meritorious school grants:
Allegheny County:
- Baldwin-Whitehall School District $45,000
- Brentwood School District $35,000
- Clairton School District $30,000
- Duquesne School District $30,000
- East Allegheny School District $481,508
- Elizabeth Forward School District $40,000
- Gateway School District $40,000
- McKeesport Area School District $45,000
- Plum Borough School District $40,000
- South Allegheny School District $455,000
- West Allegheny School District $40,000
- West Mifflin Area School District $40,000
Westmoreland County:
- Burrell School District $35,000
- Kiski Area School District $40,000
- New Kensington-Arnold School District $35,000
- Penn-Trafford School District $45,000
- Westmoreland IU7 $239,000
Brewster has been a strong and vocal advocate of improving security at school facilities. He has sponsored a package of bills to enhance safety in schools. The legislation includes: the development of a school safety commission, requiring school safety upgrades to be part of approved school construction and rehabilitation projects, and armed guards in school building.
In addition, last August the school safety committee approved Brewster’s request to create a subcommittee to explore the development of baseline safety and security standards that could be universally applied to all school districts.
“We must keep providing grant funds to pay for safety upgrades to schools,” Brewster said. “Our children deserve a safe and secure environment that is conducive to education.”
The School Safety and Security Committee was established in 2018. The grants are administered through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
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November 1, 2018
McKeesport – Oct. 30, 2018 – Sen. Jim Brewster (D- Allegheny/Westmoreland) announced today that $450,000 in School Safety and Security grants were awarded to various school districts in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. The grant funding was authorized by the School Safety and Security Committee within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
“Pushing resources out to schools quickly was one of the top priorities of the School Safety and Security Committee,” Brewster said. “Districts can use the funds to help protect students and make our school buildings safer and more secure.”
Brewster is a member of the School Safety and Security Committee. He was appointed earlier this year.
Local school districts that received the $25,000 grant allocation include:
- Baldwin-Whitehall School District (Allegheny County)
- Brentwood Borough School District (Allegheny County)
- Clairton City School District (Allegheny County)
- Duquesne City School District (Allegheny County)
- East Allegheny School District (Allegheny County)
- Elizabeth Forward School District (Allegheny County)
- Gateway School District (Allegheny County)
- McKeesport Area School District (Allegheny County)
- Plum Borough School District (Allegheny County)
- South Allegheny School District (Allegheny County)
- West Mifflin Area School District (Allegheny County)
- Woodland Hills School District (Allegheny County)
- West Jefferson School District (Allegheny County)
- Burrell School District (Westmoreland County)
- Kiski Area School District (Westmoreland County)
- New Kensington-Arnold School District (Westmoreland County)
- Leechburg Area School District (Westmoreland County)
- Penn-Trafford Area School District (Westmoreland County)
Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 44 into law in June of 2018 which established the School Safety and Security Committee. The committee was charged with developing criteria for school safety and security assessments along with issues surveys to measure their safety and security preparedness. It also administers grants to schools to improve safety and security.
There was a total of $52.5 million allocated to the School Safety and Security Grant Program for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
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July 23, 2018
Harrisburg – July 23, 2018 – A longtime advocate of school safety upgrades, state Sen. Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny/Westmoreland) said today that he was appointed to the new School Safety and Security Committee.
The 17-member commission was created in late June with the passage of Act 44. The goal of the committee is to craft policies and provide grants to stop school and community violence.
“There is a tremendous amount of work to do to protect children in our schools and improve anti-violence efforts in our communities,” Brewster said. “This new committee has broad and sweeping power, a definitive mandate and appointees with expertise in safety and security to help bolster security and push state-of-the-art solutions.”
As a senator, Brewster has been at the forefront on school safety issues. Earlier this year, he authored a wide-ranging package of legislation to address key areas of school safety.
Brewster’s three-bill initiative included the formation of a safety committee (similar to the one contained in Act 44), a heightened focus on school building upgrades through the Department of Education’s construction process (PlanCon) and hiring of more school resource officers.
“I am hopeful the new committee will address the safety needs of school students, teachers and administrators, in addition to focusing efforts on reducing violence in the community,” Brewster said. “This effort will be ongoing and collaborative — and has the potential to craft policies and fund programs that will really make a difference in protecting our children.”
Act 44 includes a new $60 million grant program. The committee is being created through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Brewster said the new committee will have to get to work immediately. The new law specifies deadlines for adopting safety and security criteria to be used in school safety assessments. It must also approve guidelines for selecting security assessment providers by Oct. 31.
Grants from the program may be used for school and security assessments, conflict resolution, behavior supports, diversion, anti-violence programming, risk assessment, security planning, counseling, training and bullying prevention among other things. Community anti-violence programs will be funded through a $7.5 million set-aside.
The first meeting of the committee will be held on July 23. Brewster was appointed by Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny).
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