Several Northwest Indiana public and private schools are among 494 sharing $27.1 million in state funding to bolster security and safety.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security announced the 2026 Secured School Safety Grant awards Tuesday.

Schools primarily use the funding to pay school resource officers – trained local police who work in schools.

The state allocated $24 million to schools last year and about $17 million of that amount funded school resource officers.

Officials said the requests for funding exceeded the program’s total amount for the first time. The state gave priority to first-time applicants that included charter schools, which were capped at $100,000.

Schools can match their funding at 25%, 50% or 100%. The match is based on the district’s average daily member

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