A state agency says it needs a full-time analyst to work on school safety issues, but that budget request is in serious jeopardy.

State Division of Building Safety Administrator Chris Jensen made a pitch for the position Friday morning.

He said the state has dedicated about 2,000 staff hours to consult with school officials on safety issues. That consulting work is over and above the inspections conducted by the division’s Office of School Safety and Security.

An analyst would provide “timely and site-specific safety assessments, as well as ongoing consulting and training,” the Legislative Services Office says in a summary of the division’s budget request.

Gov. Brad Little did not recommend funding the $141,000-a-year position, which would come from state tax dollars.

The division is in line to use federal grants to set up an anonymous school safety tip line and to develop school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams.

The Office of School Safety and Security, with six full-time positions, is a small unit within the building safety division, which has 148 full-time positions. The office is in the midst of a three-year job of conducting safety assessments for all of Idaho’s 730 public school buildings.