SCHOOL FLORIDA-TRAGEDY SECURITY

Easy Fixes to school security prove elusive after Florida Shooting.

TWO WEEKS before a gunman fatally shot 17 people at a Florida high school, Bill Lee, the president of the state's school administrators association -

Warned lawmakers that Florida's schools were vulnerable to just such an attack.

''It's not a matter of if, but when,'' he wrote in the Orlando Sentinel on Jan 29, urging legislators to boost spending on school security after two school shooting in other states in January.

''Florida is one instance away from becoming the next Kentucky or Texas, and we must do something about it.''

Following last week's mass shooting at  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Lee has renewed calls for more funding for matters ranging from mental health counseling to emergency lockdown systems.

State lawmakers, facing pressure  from angry students, have signaled they will boost security funding after failing to do for years.

''I wish the words had not been so prophetic,'' Lee said in an interview last Wednesday.

Florida's Safe Schools program provides millions of dollars to more than 70 school districts for  safety and security. Since 2002-03, however, funding for the program has dropped 25 percent per student, even as the threat of mass shootings has risen.

The current budget includes $64.4 million for an eighth straight year according to state figures.

Before the shooting, Governor Rick Scott had proposed adding $10 million next year.

[Agencies]