The Madison County Board of Education got a big surprise Tuesday night.

Madison County Sheriff Kevin Turner announced he and his office will supply four new school resource officers, and pay for them, too.

The security addition will not only keep students safe, but also save the school district thousands of dollars.

Madison County School Board of Education leaders say they had no idea what kind of announcement Sheriff Kevin Turner planned to make.

The four new SROs will protect five schools.

"We have already allotted the money to hire four new resource officers into schools that you see fit," Turner announced to the board of education on Tuesday. "We want to partner with the school board and fund it ourselves to put more resource officers in the schools."

Currently, Madison County Schools has 10 SROs and a sergeant. Every high school has an SRO, but the same can't be said about elementary and middle schools. The four new officers are expected to start in January.

Madison County Superintendent Allen Perkins says improving safety is something he wants to address.

"We've always been looking at opportunities to strengthen our relationship and our SRO presence in our schools," Perkins said.

The school district tells WAAY31 the sheriff's office is saving them thousands of dollars while improving safety immediately. Now, that money can go toward more things to benefit the district.

"That allows us to utilize our funding in even greater ways to continue the great things going on in Madison County Schools," Perkins said.

The school district tells WAAY31 they also hope to add three more SRO's when the personnel is available in the near future.

Turner says his goal is to get an SRO in each of the 29 schools in the district.