FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — The number of school resource officers in Kentucky has more than doubled since lawmakers passed sweeping school safety legislation in the wake of the 2018 school shooting in Marshall County.
The Kentucky Center for School Safety’s latest report shows the number of school resource officers, or SROs, increased from 412 in 2019 to 937 in 2026, an increase of about 127%.
The growth is one of the results of the School Safety and Resiliency Act, which state lawmakers passed in 2019 following the Marshall County shooting.
Sen. Max Wise, who sponsored the legislation, said lawmakers made a commitment to families affected by the shooting to continue prioritizing school safety.
“I remember talking to the Hope and Cope families, who each lost a child in that,” Wise said. “We’re going to continue to make this a priority, and we’ve made sure we stay on the forefront of this.”
One of the law’s key goals was increasing the number of SROs across Kentucky schools. While the ultimate goal is to have an officer in every school, lawmakers acknowledge some districts may not have the funding necessary to meet that goal.
Lawmakers have responded by increasing funding available for school resource officers.
“By increasing the funding by $20,000 per SRO, we’re hoping that’s going to elevate this,” Wise said. “We’ll see through the school year and next.”
The legislation also led to other changes aimed at improving physical security in schools.
“We’ve created threat assessment teams, doing simple things like locking doors,” Wise said. “We’ve seen school facilities increase in what they’re doing today, buzzing people in, maybe wanding them.”
Lawmakers have also focused on the ratio of guidance counselors to students as part of broader school safety efforts. The goal is to increase the number of counselors working on school campuses to better address students’ mental health needs.
Lawmakers say Kentucky continues to work toward improving that ratio.
