AKRON — The Indiana Secured School Safety Board recently approved more than $14 million in matching grants to enhance school security by allowing local school corporations to add resource officers, equipment and conduct threat assessments. Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation was awarded $50,000.

During the board meeting, applications were approved for 388 schools that qualified for the Secured School Safety Grant program. Each school must produce a 50 percent match to qualify.

“Indiana continues to be national leader in the safety and preparedness of our schools,” said Bryan Langley, board chair and executive director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. “With support from Governor Holcomb and legislators, this funding will help continue that trend to support schools as they plan and implement safety measures that protect students, educators, administrators and visitors.”

The funds include an additional $5 million approved by the Indiana General Assembly at the governor’s request. With the recent board approval, the Indiana Secured School Safety Grant program has provided more than $53 million since 2014 to enhance safety and security in schools.

The Indiana secured school safety grant program was created in 2013 to support initiatives to ensure schools are safe and secure.

The program supports a dedicated state grant fund that provides matching grants to school corporations, accredited non-public schools, charter schools or a coalition of school corporations and/or charter schools applying jointly to employ a school resource officer, conduct a threat assessment, purchase equipment to restrict access to the school or expedite the notification of first responders.