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Both Brooke County Board of Education members and county commissioners want to maintain sheriff's deputies as resource officers in five public schools.
Neither group can afford to pay the full cost, estimated at $450,000 a year, however.
Despite weeks of discussion of the matter, commissioners and board members have not been able to agree on a formula to keep the resource officer program afloat. There are several technical questions. For example, should the board pay for deputies when they are not working in schools?
It all comes down to money. Commissioners believed the board had agreed to pay for the resource officers, and did not budget for them. Board members, faced with an unexpected $3.2 million budget gap, already have laid off more than 40 other employees.
This is not going to end well …
… unless Gov. Jim Justice steps in. Surely he can justify using a minuscule portion of the $1.25 billion in federal aid related to COVID-19 to cover most, if not all, the resource officers' cost for a year. That would give the board and commissioners breathing room to find a long-term solution.
Please, governor -- do it.