MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — 97th District Delegate John Hardy may be in his final session as a state lawmaker, but he’s got some ideas. Among them, House Bill 5197 to fund School Resource Officers statewide. He calls it an ‘out of the box’ approach to funding SRO program.
Hardy says the state board of education estimates a robustly funded SRO program would cost around $28 million, but he thinks a large part of that money could come from excess pupil dollars left over due to falling enrollment numbers, which he says is about 5,000 fewer than last year.
Under Hardy’s plan, that $28 million would be managed by the state auditor’s office and county commissions could request funding for SROs based on an 80/20 split and under some criteria:
The SRO in a given county would be overseen by the county sheriff’s office.
Delegate Hardy says the cost breaks down to $114.24 per student, which he says is worth it:
Hardy also talked about House Bill 4864, which he calls the Stormwater Bill:
He says Berkeley County Senator Jason Barrett is introducing a similar bill in the state senate.
Hardy announced he’s mounting a run for Berkeley County Council during this year’s election.