One of the extremely sad realities in recent years is that schools have become an increasing target for mass shootings.

The tally of such events is heart-breaking and, unfortunately, growing annually.

The list of causes and proposed solutions is also lengthy.

One effort that makes common sense is to have law enforcement officers in each of our schools.

Last year, the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation mandating that each school campus have such a law enforcement presence, commonly called a School Resource Officer.

Unfortunately, a funding mechanism for the positions was not also approved at the same time.

That is leaving some gaps in coverage.

In Warren County, county and city schools are making positive strides to meeting the mandate.

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower said the county school district already has officers in all high schools and middle schools and has two “floaters” for the 15 county elementary schools.

That number will increase as the sheriff’s office is adding five new county SROs, who will each float between two elementary schools, including one city elementary school.

That will give Bowling Green Independent Schools a total of four SROs – one each for the high school and junior high and two that will float among the district’s five elementary schools and its alternative school.

Having the SROs offers at least some peace of mind for parents, teachers and students. That’s likely one of the reasons lawmakers approved the legislation. But they left the job undone.

For large districts like those in Warren County, the number of schools that need to be covered makes funding difficult. Smaller districts, even if they have fewer schools to cover, have their own challenge by virtue of their size that means less tax dollars to use.

That’s why we urge lawmakers to finish the job and designate the appropriate funding for these mandated positions.