State Rep. Dan Troy announces funding for Lake County school safety support
State Rep. Daniel Troy, D-Willowick, recently announced funding for school safety support totaling $990,433 for 14 schools serving his district.
According to a news release, the funding will provide support for physical safety and security upgrades.
Allocations were distributed by a grant program in Ohio’s Operating Budget and with federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act — part of House Bill 45 from the 134th Ohio General Assembly.
“Unfortunately, too many incidents over the past few years have alerted us to the need for improved school safety precautions and advanced security mechanisms to keep our kids and teachers out of harm’s way,” Troy said.
“I’m pleased that we were able to reach a bipartisan agreement in passing legislation in late 2022 to create this pool of state and federal dollars to fund another round of school safety grants for buildings that weren’t funded in earlier distributions,” he added.
The schools receiving the most recent round of funds are:
• Lake Catholic High School – $100,000
• Eastlake Middle School – $68,790
• Edison Elementary School (Willoughby) – $67,790
• Grant Elementary School (Willoughby) – $78,485
• Jefferson Elementary School (Eastlake) – $72,237
• Longfellow Elementary School (Eastlake) – $65,607
• North High School (Eastlake) – $79,016
• Northern Career Institute (Willoughby) – $79,487
• Royalview Elementary School (Willowick) – $50,000
• School of Innovation (Willoughby Hills) – $73,700
• South High School (Willoughby) – $71,050
• Willoughby Middle School – $50,000
• Willoughby-Eastlake Preschool – $84,721
• Willowick Middle School – $50,000
Most of the other school buildings in Troy’s district received school safety grant dollars in earlier distributions from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, the release stated.
Troy additionally announced funding, totaling $14,751, to help schools cover the cost of equipment for installation or retrofitting water fountains with bottle-filling stations.
The representative noted the funding will encourage students and staff to use refillable water bottles to reduce single-use plastic bottles.
“Reusable bottles keep plastic waste out of landfills and Ohio’s foremost asset — Lake Erie,” Troy said.
Mentor School District will receive $10,000 and Cornerstone Christian Academy in Willoughby Hills will receive $4,751 in funding.
Allocations were distributed by an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Recycling and Litter Prevention grant program to public and private K-12 schools to promote the “Three R’s” — “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”
Troy serves as the ranking member of the Finance Subcommittee on Agriculture, Development, and Natural Resources, which oversees the Ohio EPA.