New Arizona school safety law expands options for campus precautions

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs on Tuesday signed a bill into law that expands the Arizona Department of Education’s school safety program.

The law allows the use of grant money set aside by the department to be used for door locks, safety training and the hiring of retired law enforcement officers as school resource officers.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said it was the most significant school safety law since 2007.

“They’re perfectly capable of doing that job,” Horne said. “That’s very important because just as we have a shortage of teachers, we have a shortage of police officers,” he said.

He said the law permitting schools to hire retired law enforcement officers is common sense.

“The added training and technology will increase the value of this successful program that makes our students, educators and staff safer on campus,” Horne said.

Where does money for school safety law come from?

Republican Rep. Matt Gress sponsored House Bill 2074, which Hobbs signed into law.

“In 2024-2025, the Arizona Department of Education issued 818 grants, school safety grants,” Gress said. “But what many don’t know is that a good chunk of that money, we estimated to be about $33 million of that funding, went unused.”

The new law ensures those dollars are put to good use, he added.

“Schools simply couldn’t hire the personnel they were authorized to hire. This bill fixes that,” Gress said.

How else will new school safety law help students?

The bill also requires schools to specifically include students with disabilities in school safety plans, something Rep. Gress said shows “the safety of every child matters” regardless of ability. He added the new law also requires schools to track where the grant money goes.

“The legislation does not stop at dollars and cents. It demands accountability. Schools that receive these grants will now be required to complete updated safety assessments,” he said.

Horne said the legislation was a bipartisan effort.

“The bill results from a task force that we had that included legislators from both parties, equal numbers of Democrats, equal numbers of Republicans to make recommendations for school safety,” Horne said.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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