BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- Friday is the last day of school for students in Hernando County. 

  • Hernando quandary: How to pay for school resource officers?
  • SROs needed at 10 schools
  • School district examining ways to pay for it

For students at 10 schools there, there was a new school resource officer on campus for the last few months following the devastating shooting in Parkland. 

Now the school board is trying to figure out how to fund the SROs for next year. 

Parents say they were relieved to hear back in February that every school in Hernando County would have a school resource officer.

"For some of us parents when we drop off our kids that’s an extra security for us," parent Renaldo Andrade said. "So I actually look for it too. I see him I welcome him I say hello to him."

Many parents want the SROs to stay, and so does the Hernando County School Board. But the issue is figuring out how to pay for it. 

"They're still information gathering," Hernando County Schools Spokeswoman Karen Jordan explained. "They're still really weighing what the needs are and what the potential funding mechanisms might be."

One option they're considering is asking for Millage Rate to be raised. 

If the tax is raised by .500 Mill for example, that would bring in $4,742,957 additional dollars to the district. For homeowners with homes valued at $150,000, that would mean an extra $29.63 a year. 

The community already pays a half cent sales tax to the district to improve the school buildings themselves, and the district says because of that agreement they can't use those funds to cover SROs. 

The cost of all the SROs  is $2,497,706, potentially leaving several million left over. 

"Those extra dollars could very much be additional dollars to help improve safety needs of our campuses," Jordan explained.  

And while no final decision has been made, some parents say they'd be willing to pay more to keep the SROs. 

"If it’s for a good cause something like that I’m all for it," Andrade said.

Immediately following the tragedy in Parkland, the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners agreed to split the cost of the additional SROs with the School Board. 

That agreement goes until September 30.