Sheriff’s office and Baxter school district team up to fund SRO position

Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and the Baxter school district have formed a partnership to provide a dedicated school resource officer to students and staff.

Supervisors approved the 28E agreement between the sheriff’s office and school district at their April 25 meeting. Sheriff Brad Shutts said this SRO project has been in the works for more than a year, and it has finally come to fruition in part due to a $125,000 grant from the federal government over three years.

“Some of the stipulations were we had to be primary agency, which now we are in Baxter,” Shutts said, referring to an agreement approved in February that authorized a deputy to provide 40-hours-a-week law enforcement services to Baxter, which has been without a police department for some time.

Federal grant money will only provide a little more than $41,000 each year. The school district will allocate $45,000 during the 2025-2026 school year, then $47,500 in 2026-2027, then $50,000 in 2027-2028 and $52,500 in 2028-2029. Shutts said quarterly payments will be billed to the Baxter school district.

According to the agreement between Baxter and the county, the SRO shall be assigned a four, 10-hour day work week to coincide with the district’s new four-day school week schedule. At this point, the sheriff’s office has not decided who will be hired to become the SRO at Baxter Community School District.

When an SRO is hired on in Baxter, he or she will have to patrol the district and neighboring properties, provide safety and security at district events, facilitate in-service training, work closely with administrators and staff to ensure a safe learning environment and be a visible and active law enforcement officer on site.

The SRO will also act as a deterrent for criminal and delinquent actions and will coordinate security and crowd control at extracurricular activities, serve as the initial first responder and school safety coordinator for district emergencies, provide classroom talks, conduct security assessments and carry out many other duties.

Baxter Mayor Doug Bishop thanked the sheriff and his department for all of the efforts they put in to help the small town and its school district.

“The responsive relationship we’ve had with the sheriff’s office is going to be a tremendous cost savings to taxpayers in both the county and the city,” Bishop said. “I think a lot of small towns as we move forward with law enforcement are going to have to start looking at agreements like this.”

Supervisor Brandon Talsma agreed, saying other county supervisors in Mahaska, Marshall and Poweshiek Counties have reached out to Jasper County to coordinate similar agreements in their own regions. Talsma told Bishop to not be surprised when he receives phone calls inquiring about it.

“We already have,” Bishop said. “As budget constraints get tighter, a lot of people are going to have to start looking at things like this. And, in my personal opinion, it brings a higher level of law enforcement to small communities.”

In a followup with Newton News, Shutts indicated the sheriff’s office will have a deputy assigned as SRO sometime this summer.