Metro Council has approved accepting more than $11 million in state grants to help fund school resource officers, or SROs. The state program reimburses law enforcement agencies up to $75,000 for each school with an assigned officer, but MNPD says the grant does not cover the full cost of an officer’s salary. The timeline for when the state will award the money to the department is not known.

MNPD said elementary schools without assigned SROs receive daytime coverage through the voluntary School Safety Initiative and officers based at police precincts. The department did not say how frequently those officers are present at each school.

“There are, unfortunately, not enough police officers to fully staff all schools without pulling from patrol and investigative components,” the department said in a response to questions about the shortage. “Staffing is a balance.”

The debate comes after Tennessee created the grant program following the 2023 Covenant School shooting in Nashville, which killed six people, including three elementary school children.

MNPS parent TC Weber urged officials to find a way to place an SRO at every school, calling officers an important part of school safety. Weber said the city should not wait to act until another tragedy occurs.

The uneven coverage leaves elementary schools relying on a mix of voluntary safety-program visits and precinct officers, rather than an officer assigned to their campus. MNPD’s explanation points to a constraint beyond grant funding: expanding the program would require enough officers to staff schools without reducing patrol and investigative capacity.