ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — As St. Lucie County keeps building new schools to keep up with rapid growth, local law enforcement budgets aren’t necessarily growing at the same pace, and district leaders say that won’t be allowed to affect student safety.

St. Lucie Public Schools is adding nearly 2,000 students a year, according to Superintendent Dr. Jon R. Prince. Treasure Coast High School alone enrolls around 3,000 students.

During the most recent budget workshop, Port St. Lucie Police were told they won’t be getting any new officers heading into next year. City leaders have said they won’t fund 184 requested positions, including 25 new officers the department had planned to add this year to keep pace with growth, as the city braces for a possible loss of tens of millions of dollars in property tax revenue if a statewide amendment passes in November.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office is facing a similar squeeze. The agency requested a $13.7 million budget increase for the coming fiscal year, while county commissioners have proposed roughly $8 million instead, a gap the two sides are still working to close.

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Despite those constraints, Prince said the district’s commitment to school safety isn’t changing.

“We believe that having a trained officer on campus who’s trained to de-escalate situations, respond to situations — we want to make sure that we’re offering that in our schools, because safety, you can’t compromise or cut corners on safety,” Prince said in an interview with CBS12.

Prince said the district maintains a contract with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, renewed every couple of years, that puts a resource officer on every campus in the district, two at every high school and some middle schools. He said that commitment applies to new campuses as they open, including Tradition Lakes K-8.

State law does not actually require a sworn law enforcement officer on campus, only an armed safe-school officer, which could include private security. Prince said going that route would never be his first choice.

“If they say they can’t provide it, then that’s not my choice,” Prince said, referring to a scenario where the sheriff’s office or police department couldn’t supply enough manpower to staff new schools.

For now, Prince said every campus in the district has a deputy on site, even as the county’s two largest law enforcement agencies face tighter budgets heading into the new school year.