In response to the Florida school shooting, parents have been questioning safety measures taken in schools across the nation. Perry is no exception. There are quite a few safety precautions taken here, however, money given to the schools determine the quality and quantity of those measures.

Principal Dan Serrano explains that, “the number of security officers a school gets depends on their enrollment. [The officers] are paid out of the district budget.”

The main issue surrounding why schools in Arizona do not have any more than one police officer is money. Since the Arizona school districts do not receive a lot of funding, the schools can not afford to have extra security measures.

Serrano says that police officers for the schools in Gilbert are provided by the Gilbert Police Department and Chandler schools, “those officers are provided by a grant.”

The school resource officers (SRO) for Gilbert schools are provided by the Gilbert Police Department, as quoted by Serrano. However, if the SRO is needed to cover any event, they are paid by the hosts of the event. The police officers apply to become a SRO.

For example, if the athletics department needs an SRO to cover an athletic event, then they will pay for them and if there is a dance then StuGo will pay to have an SRO.

Serrano is currently looking into getting self closing mechanisms for the gates outside so the security officers can focus on keeping other entrances safe that do not have the automatic gates.

Trent Thornton, Macroeconomics and Economics teacher, says “I think it all comes down to resources and if we are not getting proper funding, then we are going to continually have these issues.”

He continues with, “[the funding] comes from the state, and I do not think that the taxpayers should have to pay for this. But I do think that the state should reallocate some money to fund security on campuses.”

Money is required to purchase things in this country. The less money available, the lesser quality and quantity of the goods and services being purchased.

Junior Tanner Donaldson says “I feel like security is a necessary thing for school. When it comes to making it safer, closing the gates would help. [Having more money] would change [security] a lot. If we have more [money] then they can watch over more spots and cover more area to make it safer.”

Money is a requirement when purchasing goods and services, and security on school campuses is a part of those goods and services.