Budgets are moral documents, the places where we make our values clear in dollars and cents. Prince George's County spends $3.5 million on SROs every year, and $17 million for security more generally, while we're not even close to the recommended nurse- and psychologist-to-student ratios. 33 county schools lack a full-time nurse. It is clear that we value policing more than care, security more than the safety, health, and wellbeing of Black, brown, and disabled students.

We could have different, stronger community schools that value our children for who they are, that do not treat them as threats. But we cannot just talk about it, we have to make our commitment clear in dollars and cents.

What could we afford, if we were not spending money on SROs?

The table below uses data from the BLS on average hourly and annual wages for different kinds of school employees in DC, MD, and Northern Virginia. It is an illustration of the sort of investments we could make with just the $3.5 million we currently spend on SROs in PGCPS. More will be needed, but instead of 33 SROs we could have..