It’s the same contract terms that the Orange Country School Board had offered in December — and that the municipalities had rebuffed. The five municipalities had originally asked to be reimbursed $75,000 per SRO in year one, increasing to $80,000 in year three — a nonstarter for the school board. 

However, the new contract now includes the county’s Safe Schools funding. The state program enhances school safety and security, including for SROs. In the 2025-2026 school year, law enforcement agencies will receive 100 percent of any increase in the allocation up to $20 million. The school board will retain increases in the alottment between $20 million and $40 million and any monies above $40 million will be split between the school board and the agencies. In the second year, law enforcement agencies are to receive 40 percent of any allocation increase.

Winter Garden Police Chief Steve Graham told VoxPopuli he hoped the Safe Schools allotment would supplement the reimbursements. “We’re covering the lion’s share of the officer’s costs,” he said. 

It's unclear just yet how much money will be received from this program since the state legislature has yet to pass a budget. With the state legislative session extended until June 30, there may not be answers until after the academic term concludes.

Still, Jon Williams, Winter Garden city manager, told VoxPopuli in an email that he was “satisfied” with the outcome of the negotiations. 

“Compensation/costs will need to be an ongoing discussion, but I believe we are being fairly compensated given the budget challenges we all are facing,” Williams wrote. 

“We’re happy we were able to come to an agreement,” Ocoee City Manager Craig Shadrix told VoxPopuli in an interview. He said it gets Ocoee a “little further toward our goal of getting more of it [SRO salaries] covered.” Ideally, he’d like to see a 50-50 split in costs, with the school board eventually assuming 55 percent of the cost burden. He said the “all in number” to put a newly hired police officer on the street, including training, uniforms and equipment, is $150,000 to $160,000. 

The Ocoee Police Department with a current budget just shy of $19 million, spends about $1 million funding its SROs while the school board reimburses 46 percent of the salaries for a total of $648,000. Winter Garden also sees 46 percent of its SRO salaries reimbursed at $648,000 even though it spends about $1.4 million to fund its SROs. 

Ocoee will get that 50-50 split from its charter schools. Innovation Montessori Charter School and Renaissance Charter School will each reimburse the city $80,316 for the 2025-2026 school year and $82,725.48 for 2026-2027 to have SROs on their campuses. Winter Garden has no such agreements with charter or private schools, Williams told VoxPopuli. 

SROs v Guardians 

By law, Florida public and charter schools must have either an SRO or what’s known as an armed Guardian on school grounds. The Guardian Program was established in 2018 after the Parkland shooting that killed 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Akin to armed security guards, Guardians receive criminal background checks, psychological evaluations and 144 hours of training, including firearms-safety and diversity trainings. SROs undergo drug testing, background checks and psychological evaluations and complete 770 hours of training at a Law Enforcement Officer Basic Recruit program as a prerequisite to becoming law enforcement officers. 

Ocoee has 12 resource officers covering 10 schools with one SRO at each of its elementary schools and two apiece at Ocoee Middle School and Ocoee High School. Windermere has one SRO at Windermere Elementary School.

SROs are primarily detailed to their schools and work during summer school if necessary,  although they may be called on to fill out other patrols when school is not in session, according to area police chiefs. And they’re encouraged to take vacations and schedule their mandatory trainings for when school is out of session. 

In December, the Orange County School Board alarmed parents by sending out letters suggesting that if a cost-sharing agreement could not be reached, SROs could be replaced with armed Guardians. As negotiations continued into spring, parents feared the SROs would be lost. One parent told Spectrum News 13 in April that he considered the possibility of replacing SROs a “significant blow to student safety.” 

None of the city officials VoxPopuli contacted said that was ever a consideration. 

“At no point did the Ocoee Police Department intend to remove our school resource officers from schools, nor were we advocating for Guardians to be placed in schools within the City of Ocoee’s jurisdiction,” Ocoee Police Chief Vincent Ogburn said in an email. “Due to the increase in costs related to hiring officers and purchasing equipment, the Ocoee Police Department was seeking increased reimbursement to help offset these expenses. The Ocoee Police Department will always prioritize the safety of our children and teachers.”

“I’m happy it’s put to bed,” Graham said, referring to the long-sought agreement that had been months in the making and unanimously approved by Winter Garden. “Because we need to be in our schools. What happens in the schools spills into the community, and what happens in the community will affect schools.”