Seminole County school officials are tapping into a new resource to save money.

District officials are launching the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program when students return from the holiday break.

Over the next three years, 300 retirees will be recruited to mentor 2,000 students.

The district received more than $300,000 from the federal government to launch the program.

"This is a great way for seniors to get back into the world and feel needed and wanted," said volunteer Terry Brown.

Fingerprinting and background checks will be done on all volunteers. The federal grant will cover the cost of the background checks and volunteer training.

Coordinators will track student test scores to make sure the mentoring is paying off.

District officials said the extra resource could help the county's budget.

"Last year we had $9 million in savings with the volunteers that are already in our schools," said volunteer coordinator Misa Mills.

The federal grant will also reimburse travel time for seniors.