With budget talks getting underway for Elizabethton City Schools, one of the primary areas that is expected to see attention is safety within the district.

Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour provided his monthly report during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting and mentioned one of the key focuses for the district is to continue looking at improvements in safety with the recent influx of incidents across the country.

Gardenhour indicated the system is working toward a school safety proposal, which could tackle improvements to multiple areas with potential money that could funnel through the pipeline.

Keeping the line of communication open within the district has been vital, according to Gardenhour, as the students continue to look at ways to improve safety for students and faculty.

“During this time (in our country where there has been uncertainty about school and safety), our principals have been great to open the lines of communication with students,” Gardenhour said.

Prior to Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, the board held a workshop to go over the preliminary ideas to be part of the 2018-19 budget, with safety being one of the more highlighted line items.

Talks on the budget will receive a bit more fluidity in April with another workshop, in what is expected to be the final workshop prior to a board vote.

The issue of safety received a bit of a push this week from the state level with Gov. Bill Haslam announcing Tuesday that his office is proposing $30 million to improve school safety across the state in an amendment for the 2018-19 fiscal year budget proposal.

According to information provided by the Governor’s Office, the funding includes $25 million in nonrecurring and $5.2 million in recurring school safety grants — which could be utilized by school districts like Elizabethton. The office added that the governor-appointed School Safety Working Group is expected to meet in the coming days to submit options for consideration “that will serve as a basis for state action and approved school safety measures.”

“Our children deserve to learn in a safe and secure environment and I’ve asked the working group to make specific recommendations on school safety measures,” Haslam said in a statement issued to the Elizabethton Star. “These additional school safety funds, which include doubling the current amount of recurring funding we have through our school safety grants, will provide our schools with additional resources to meet their specific needs.”