COPS Office School Violence Prevention 

Program (SVPP)—How Decisions were Made 

to Allocate $72 Million When More than $130 

Million was Requested

The SVPP solicitation opened on April 21, 2022, and application submissions were required by June 22, 

2022. The COPS Office received 405 applications from states, units of government and their public 

agencies, and Indian tribes requesting more than $130 million in federal funding.

The COPS Office developed an application to meet the 

requirements of the law

The COPS Office developed an application for SVPP funds that met the requirements of the statute with 

a focus on advancing public safety by providing funds to improve security at schools and on school

grounds. States, units of local government, Indian tribes, and public agencies (e.g., school districts) were 

eligible to apply for funding.

The COPS Office balanced scoring indicators

Applicants were asked a variety of school safety and fiscal health questions so that the COPS Office 

could assess each applicant’s need for improved security and fiscal need for funding. 

Applicants were asked to submit information including the following: 

• Census population

• Crime indicators

• Dollars spent per student 

• Total number of schools

• Total school enrollment
FY 2022 COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP)—Methodology 2 

The COPS Office checked and double-checked, 

verifying the data applicants provided

The application system contains numerous built-in logic checks to help prevent the submission of 

erroneous data. Once the application period closed, specialists in the COPS Office reviewed the data 

contained therein. The COPS Office reviewed multiple data points within each application and in some 

cases contacted applicants to verify information provided in their application. This verification process 

was crucial to ensuring that all applicants were properly evaluated based on accurate and reliable 

economic, crime, and school data. 

The COPS Office implemented a uniform system of 

evaluating the information that applicants submitted

Basic Minimum Requirements, Fiscal and School Safety Need Data Review

Each of the 405 applications underwent a basic minimum requirements review to ensure that (1) 

funding requested was for allowable costs, (2) the applicant was eligible to apply for funding, and (3) the 

applicant’s project proposal was responsive to the solicitation. 

The fiscal and school safety need was evaluated for each eligible applicant that passed the basic 

minimum requirements review. The COPS Office focused on balancing the applicant’s need for federal 

financial assistance with their school safety need based on their responses to a series of application 

questions. All applicants were ranked based on their relative fiscal and school safety need. 

Comprehensive Narrative Review 

The applications were then evaluated using the factors below:

• Funding request and integration

• Management and implementation plan

• School safety planning and assessment efforts

• Sustainability plan
FY 2022 COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP)—Methodology 3 

Final Funding Decisions

The COPS Office considered a number of factors when making final funding decisions, including the 

following: 

• Capacity to make the improvements sought with grant funds

• Demonstrated need for financial assistance

• Demonstrated need for improved school security

• Geographic distribution—including urban, suburban, and rural areas

• Strength of the written narrative proposal

• The presence of a catastrophic incident in the jurisdiction

• Use of evidence-based strategies and programs such as those identified by the Comprehensive 

School Safety Initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice

A total of 235 of the 405 SVPP requests were funded, which represents approximately 58 percent of the 

total number of applications submitted.