A new informal federal survey has found that for many districts, budget cuts have had a profound effect on school safety and security measures. Administrators have been forced to cut safety and security staffing and programs, reorganize security departments and find alternative sources of funding in order to maintain levels of safety and security within their schools. The Center for School Preparedness, a department within the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in the federal Department of Education, surveyed several of its e-mail subscriber lists made up of school security chiefs, K12 federal grant winners, state safe school center directors and others in the field June 22-30 "to better understand how schools are working to ensure school safety despite a limited or nonexistent budget," according to the subsequent report. Although survey participants reported a variety of strategies to address budget cuts, "widespread layoffs appear to be the most typical response," with many reporting extensive cuts of schools resource officers or intervention and prevention specialists. "Schools are being prompted to decide whether to simply reduce the services, or to eliminate them altogether," the report states.