Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne is asking lawmakers to increase funding for a program that pays to place police officers on school campuses. The request comes after Gov. Katie Hobbs warned state agencies there may not be enough money to boost their budgets next year.
Horne is asking for $180 million for the state’s School Safety Program in next year’s budget. The program, administered by the Arizona Department of Education, provides grants to pay for school resource officers, juvenile probation officers, counselors and social workers.
Horne says the funding increase is needed to address violence on school campuses, pointing to a situation earlier this year when a school safety officer arrested a man who entered a Tucson campus armed with a knife and gun.
“We’re very lucky that we avoided that catastrophe,” Horne said. “And I think, given that, every parent in this state should want to have a police officer in their children’s school, because we need to be protected, these things happen.”
He made the comments weeks after a fatal stabbing at Maryvale High School.
According to the Department of Education, the department has around $128 million in existing state funds along with $20 million in federal dollars for the program, but that money expires next year.
Horne said the $180 million he is requesting in next year’s budget is enough to maintain existing funding levels while providing an additional $32 million to train more officers and expand the program.
The department awarded $39 million in grants for 303 school resource officers and probation officers and $45 million for 566 counselors and social workers for 2024-2026.
According to a report by legislative budget staff, the department funded all requests for school resource officers and probation officers during that timespan, while 182 requests for counselors or social workers remained on the waiting list.
However, Horne said the demand for officers on campuses is increasing.
“And we need to meet that demand. It would be a tragedy not to meet that demand,” he said.
Horne’s request would be a significant bump over the $82 million lawmakers and Hobbs approved for the program in this year’s budget.
And Hobbs' office is already warning state agencies that there may not be much extra money to boost their budgets next year.
The Arizona Capitol Times reported that Hobbs’ budget director sent a letter to agencies in July to limit their budget requests to no more than 2% above current levels. That’s due to a cut in federal money flowing to the state and the expiration of COVID 19-era stimulus funds, according to the letter.
“We're facing a tough budget year with a lot of uncertainty coming from the federal government, and we want to act responsibly and ensure that we're safeguarding taxpayer dollars and not increasing budgets to a level that's not sustainable, knowing that we're going into a tough year,” Hobbs said when asked about the letter.
The governor made the comment before Horne formally announced his request and did not address specific agency requests.
“This is the first step in our process of formulating our budget and we're starting with that 2% limit,” Hobbs said.
