TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— In response to Gov. Rick Scott’s letter to the legislature urging the Florida House and Senate to send the remaining $58 million from the guardian program to the Legislative Budget Commission so school districts can access these dollars for safety measures, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis released the following statement:

 

“The Florida legislature should move quickly on Gov. Scott’s request to ensure Florida schools can get the funding they need to protect our kids. As a father of two young children, this is especially important to me. As soon as this money is allocated by the Florida legislature to the school districts, my office will expedite the payments.

 

“These dollars should go to our schools so they can implement safety measures including hiring more school police officers. Our school districts, many of which are short on public safety resources, can make the quickest use of this money with the school year having already started. If this money is not allocated to the school districts, they will not be able to use the remaining $58 million this school year.”