Madison shooting draws renewed attention to DOJ school safety office

As funding for a Wisconsin school safety initiative is set to expire, a leading Republican lawmaker says he’ll likely support a budget request from the Democratic attorney general to continue the office.

Monday’s school shooting in Madison drew renewed attention to the Office of School Safety, an initiative at the Wisconsin Department of Justice that has been subject to partisan debates over financing in recent years.

But in an interview with CBS-58, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said he’d likely back a request from Attorney General Josh Kaul for more than $2 million to keep that program going after its existing funds expire in September.

Former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, launched the initiative in 2018 after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It provides training to school districts, grants to improve security, and maintains a tipline for reports of threats or other crises among students.

And after Monday’s shooting that left three dead at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, an employee of the school credited the office with helping to “harden” security at the small private school.

“We have had an amazing partnership with the DOJ and the Office of School Safety because they have done trainings, they provided school safety grants, and we have participated in both of those,” said Barbara Weirs, director of elementary and school relations at Abundant Life.

The $2.3 million that Kaul says he’ll request in the upcoming budget cycle is meant to support the program in perpetuity. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he argued that the initiative helped provide resources after Monday’s deadly shooting.

“Members of the Critical Incident Response Team in (the Madison) region responded and provided support, including assisting with the reunification process between parents and students,” he said. “And then the Office of School Safety continues to provide support to the staff … to help support the process of healing and addressing trauma, and ultimately reestablishing safety, psychological safety at the school so that students are able to return and feel comfortable.”

Republicans criticized a similarly sized budget request that Kaul made during the 2023 budget cycle.  At the time, Kaul argued that the program would lose key staffers without the state money. Gov. Tony Evers proposed spending $1 million on the office instead.

GOP lawmakers who control the budget writing committee nixed both those proposals, but maintained a smaller level of funding, arguing the office had expanded beyond its core functions. DOJ officials later announced they would use American Rescue Plan Act funding to temporarily extend operations.

State lawmakers from both parties supported other measures, such as using money from concealed carry fees, to keep the program going in a short-term basis.

Kaul’s request will go through several steps. First, Evers will propose his own budget. Then members of the Joint Finance Committee, which is controlled by Republicans, will rewrite that plan piece-by-piece.