As 2013 dawned, the nation continued to mourn the lives lost in the Sandy Hook school shooting, and soon after, mourned a heroic Alabama school bus driver who died protecting his students in late January. Legislators in every state rushed to draft bills designed to create new protections for American students in the wake of the murders, and in the Midland City, Ala., case, a lengthy hostage standoff. 

A young boy gets on your school bus, carrying a guitar case. He seems more quiet than usual as you say, “Hi” to him as he boards. He puts his head down and walks down the aisle as if he knows what to expect. As he passes a group of students in the back of the bus they jostle him, one of them tousles his hair, and they laugh at him. He sits down, his head bowed for a second, when suddenly he stands up with a pump shotgun.

As superintendents across the nation finalize their 2013-2014 budgets, many are allocating more monies toward upgrading school security in light of the tragic shootings in Sandy Hook, Conn., and Midland City, Ala. School officials are reevaluating campus entry points and teaming with law enforcement on training and prevention, and some plan to post armed guards at every school site.

Since sequestration hit March 1, headlines have blared about looming staff layoffs and service cutbacks in National Head Start programs serving low-income preschoolers. Yet the ripple effect from slashed school budgets would impact not only Head Start families but also those of staff members, such as administrators, teachers and school bus drivers.