A sign in front of Chandler Elementary designates the campus as a "drug free" and "gun free" school zone. The Brownsboro Independent School District, for the second straight year, is not funding its own police department because of financial concerns, Superintendent Elton Caldwell said just days after a John Tyler High School teacher was allegedly stabbed to death by a 16-year-old student.

"I guess last year was the first year we didn't have a police officer. We were $750,000 in the red."

The district's 2009-2010 budget is $21.8 million, and provides $11,250 for "security and monitoring."

Caldwell said the police department cost $60,000 in the final year of operation. No metal detectors are installed at the district's eight campuses, and it employs no school-resource officers. Secondary entrances to schools are locked during classes.

Caldwell said the district would consider hiring a campus police officer under the right circumstances.

"We would, if we find the right person and our finances get stronger."

In April, a first-grader at Chandler Elementary School was suspended after a school bus monitor discovered he brought a loaded .38- caliber revolver onto his bus to show a friend. About 30 other students were on the bus that morning.

Ken Trump, president of the Obio-based National School Safety and Security Services, told the Statesman the Brownsboro district is among many others across the country trying to save money by shrinking its security programs.

"School violence and crisis situations cross all types of communities: Urban, suburban and rural," he said in an e-mail. "While often the public believes suburban and rural schools have less to worry about than urban districts, the reality is we frequently find smaller outlying school districts to be lacking in awareness and preparedness.

"This is often due to misconceptions in the school community that they are somehow less likely to have a major school security incident because of their size or where they are located. In many cases, often due to their limited local resources, these communities need to be as prepared, if not more so, than larger urban districts having bigger budgets and more local first responder resources."

Caldwell blamed the absence of a district police department solely on budget worries, and said that in the 20 years he's been superintendent, security has not been a problem.

"We've had incidents with pellet guns and a couple of other things, but it's been a while back," he said. "And we had that first-grader last year who brought a loaded .38 to show his buddy."

But Trump said that's not an excuse for lax security measures.

"While there is no `blank check' in any school district, especially in today's tight financial times, schools also have to dedicate a reasonable amount of resources to prevention, security and preparedness.

"Typically, if you divide the amount of money dedicated to school safety by the overall operating budget in most districts, you will find the amount of resources for school safety to be a pithy amount of the district's overall operating budget."

Trump also said good security is about more than money.

"Many things schools need to be doing to improve safety involve as much, if not more, time than money. Unfortunately, school safety is often shorted in both money and time in far too many schools, especially nowadays as schools face intense pressure to dedicate their limited time and resources on improving test scores."

Caldwell called the Sept. 23 death of John Tyler teacher Todd Henry "tragic," but said "that potential is always there."

The Brownsboro district's code of conduct provides that students may be expelled for possessing a firearm, knife, or other weapon so defined by Texas law.

"However, school leaders have to realize that parents will forgive them if their test scores go down, but they will be much less forgiving if something happens to their children which could have been prevented or better managed if it does occur, " Trump said.

For information on school-safety programs, research, and laws, visit txssc.txstate.edu and schoolsecurity.org.

For district policies, visit brownsboro.k12.tx.us.