Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is pleading with the state legislature to approve an additional $40 million for school safety.
Horne said in a Monday press release that those proposed millions are just the minimum that hardly reflects the outsized need on Arizona’s campuses for security.
Superintendent Horne said the latest deadline for school safety grant requests yielded a demand of over 800 counselors or social workers and over 700 officers. He said the funding needed to fulfill the cost of these requests would amount to nearly $187 million.
Under Horne’s administration, the number of armed officers under the School Safety Program (SSP) grew from just over 100 to nearly 500—nearly five times the size in just three years. SSP determines the distribution of resources through competitive, state-funded grants lasting three-year cycles.
Horne said that the best model for the SSP is to have officers present to work alongside the certified mental health counselors. There are nearly 600 counselors and social workers that work alongside the nearly 500 armed officers at over 1,100 locations statewide.
There are over 1,500 district public schools and over 500 public charter schools in the state. Over 1 million students attend these schools, and nearly 60,700 educators that teach in them.
The average SSO salary according to the fiscal year 2027 FAQ runs at about $157,000.
“If the funding isn’t there to provide for them, and then a tragedy happens in one of those schools, that would be a terrible occurrence,” said Horne. “Any school that asks for a police officer should be able to get one to defend the students, to defend the staff and the teachers.”
Superintendent Horne cited the recent near-tragedy that occurred in Oklahoma earlier this month. An unarmed high school principal, Kirk Moore, confronted and stopped an adult former student, Victor Lee Hawkins, who was attempting to shoot up the school. Moore survived the encounter with a gunshot wound to the leg; no fatalities occurred.
He also cited the 2012 tragedy out of New England, where another principal made a similar attempt to stop a gunman and lost her life in the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. An elementary school principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was shot and killed by gunman Adam Lanza as she confronted him.
Both cases, Horne says, justified his argument that every Arizona school requires an armed officer to prevent injuries or deaths.
“My biggest nightmare is that an armed maniac gets onto a school campus and kills people. Just a few weeks ago, a heroic principal in Oklahoma subdued an armed gunman at a school and was wounded in the process. While we praise his actions, having unarmed teachers be the first line of defense is not acceptable,” said Horne.
Horne said that current law will ensure those 500 armed officers remain funded, but that no new funding will mean no additional officers and, further, will mean a loss of funding for the nearly 600 counselors and social workers.
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A bill advancing through the Arizona Legislature would require schools to notify parents and staff within 24 hours of serious threats or incidents involving violence on campus.
House Bill 4109 was approved by the Arizona Senate Rules Committee last week and now heads to the full Senate for consideration. The measure previously passed the Arizona House of Representatives in early March by a 35–17 vote, with seven members abstaining and six Democrats joining Republicans in support.
Sponsored by Rep. Lydia Hernandez (D-LD24), the bill would require schools to notify parents and employees within 24 hours of “life-threatening violence, threats of life-threatening violence, or threats that involve a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.”
Schools would also be required to provide information about the nature of the incident and how administrators responded.
Under the legislation, law enforcement would be required to be notified immediately following serious threats or acts of violence. Schools would also be required to confiscate any deadly weapons and hold them until police arrive.
HB 4109 would further require school districts to submit annual reports detailing campus safety incidents, including lockdowns, shelter-in-place events, evacuations, weapon-related incidents, and referrals to law enforcement. Districts would also be required to provide a summary of their safety policies.
The bill mandates that school districts adopt a formal public safety policy outlining emergency procedures and designating the superintendent as the responsible authority for implementation.
Superintendents and school board members could face misdemeanor charges for failing to comply with the law’s requirements. Superintendents may be charged if they fail to notify parents, contact law enforcement, or follow established procedures after serious threats or violence. School board members could face charges if they fail to adopt a safety policy or retaliate against individuals who report violations.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne told The Center Square that schools in the state face ongoing safety concerns, citing 500 recorded incidents in 2025 involving students bringing firearms onto campus.
“Schools that don’t yet have police are playing Russian roulette with the lives of the students and the teachers and the staff,” he said.
Horne said the number of police officers assigned to schools has increased from 190 in 2023 to 565 and encouraged schools to work with the Arizona Department of Education to expand campus security coverage.
Horne has repeatedly urged school leaders to allow the Arizona Department of Education (AZED) to “provide them with police officers.” He added, “We pay for the police officers. It doesn’t cost them anything.”
Newsrooms: Video of Horne comments is available here: https://t.co/2VQXTI0ccR For immediate release: March 9, 2026 Contact: Communications@azed.gov
Horne says recent gun incident at elementary school shows need for added safety funds Legislature, Governor to consider more… pic.twitter.com/MObTWTELjX
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) March 9, 2026
“We need to do everything we can to protect the safety of our students, teachers [and] staff,” Horne said. He added that reporting requirements would provide transparency about incidents involving weapons or threats on school campuses.
Horne blasts Democrats for voting against school safety bill Legislation would require schools to report life-threatening incidents.
State schools superintendent Tom Horne says Democrats who voted against HB 4109, a bill requiring schools to report life-threatening on-campus…
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) March 26, 2026
In a statement on March 26, Horne was critical of Democrat legislators who voted against the measure, stating, “It is reckless and irresponsible for these legislators to ignore the reality that school campuses are at risk and need every resource at their disposal to protect lives.”
“It is ironic that the bill is sponsored by Democrat Representative Lydia Hernandez,” he added. “She deserves credit for this effort. I am pleased the bill passed out of committee even with the opposition from members of her own party.”
The Arizona Department of Education’s leader admonished one party for rejecting a new mandate on schools to report deadly on-campus incidents.
Democratic lawmakers opposed HB 4109 during a Wednesday vote in the Senate Education Committee, even though one of their own, State Rep. Lydia Hernandez (D-LD24) sponsored the bill. Republicans on the committee voted in favor of it.
HB 4109 would require school boards to adopt a structured safety policy with certain, detailed implementation responsibilities imposed on school district superintendents.
Among those responsibilities of the superintendent included in the bill: written notification to students’ parents and school employees within 24 hours of any incidents or threats involving life-threatening violence or violence involving a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument; immediate notification to a law enforcement officer of observed or notified incidents involving the aforementioned situations concerning violence, and any confiscations of dangerous instruments or deadly weapons; and confiscation, or designation of confiscation to administrators, of any dangerous instrument or deadly weapon possessed by any person on school property.
School districts would also need to publish annual public safety reports detailing the number of lockdowns, shelter-in-place events, and evacuations; incidents involving a deadly weapon or dangerous instruments; incidents referred to law enforcement officers; and a summary of the school district’s adopted public safety policy and its implementation.
The bill would prohibit school districts from taking retaliatory action against employees, parents, students, state agents, or any other individuals for reporting a violation of the public safety policy requirements.
Failure to adhere to the legislation would result in school leaders facing a class one misdemeanor charge.
State Superintendent Tom Horne published a press release the day after the committee hearing accusing the Democrats on the Senate Education Committee of “reckless and irresponsible” behavior: flippant of school safety and willfully ignorant of the present safety problems plaguing school campuses.
“The bill requires notice to parents and staff within 24 hours of a life-threatening incident on campus. That is a perfectly reasonable requirement that schools should be doing anyway,” said Horne. “It is ironic that the bill is sponsored by Democrat Representative Lydia Hernandez. She deserves credit for this effort. I am pleased the bill passed out of committee even with the opposition from members of her own party.”
State Rep. Hernandez explained that the murder of Michael Montoya, 16, in Maryvale High School last August was the motivator behind the bill. Montoya was stabbed to death in a classroom by another student.
“This was a constituent bill brought to me by my neighbors, families that were so traumatized by what happened. But it’s not just limited to this one incident, but a series of incidents that keep taking place,” said Hernandez. “It’s not about politics, it’s about protecting the safety of our kids. You and I would do it, and I hope it never has to be one our children that are the victims.”
State Sen. Eva Diaz (D-LD22) said it concerned her that the bill would criminalize noncompliant school board members and superintendents.
State Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R-LD13) countered that it wasn’t unprecedented to hold school officials accountable through criminal penalties in the context of public safety.
“I understand the logic when you’re talking about public safety, at some point there has to be some oomph behind it because we’re talking about fundamental student safety,” said Mesnard.
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Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne called on state lawmakers and the Governor to prioritize additional funding for the School Safety Program (SSP) in the upcoming state budget, citing a disturbing incident last week at Sunland STEAM Academy in Phoenix where a firearm was discovered on an elementary school campus.
The Roosevelt School District was placed on lockdown on Wednesday, March 4, after a student reported a weapon.
The Phoenix Police Department responded, removed the firearm, and detained two students in connection with the incident. No one was harmed, and the school has since resumed normal operations.
Newsrooms: Video of Horne comments is available here: https://t.co/2VQXTI0ccR For immediate release: March 9, 2026 Contact: Communications@azed.gov
Horne says recent gun incident at elementary school shows need for added safety funds Legislature, Governor to consider more… pic.twitter.com/MObTWTELjX
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) March 9, 2026
“The discovery of a gun on an elementary school campus is very disturbing and once again shows how important it is that schools have armed officers on campus,” explained Superintendent Horne. “My biggest fear is that a maniac with a gun shoots up a school, killing or wounding children and adults, as has happened in other states.”
Horne emphasized the urgency of strengthening the School Safety Program, which provides grants for School Resource Officers (SROs), School Safety Officers, counselors, social workers, and other personnel to enhance campus security.
“For the upcoming state budget, the legislature and Governor are going to consider added funding for the highly successful School Safety Program so we can add more officers on campuses. They must do so,” Horne added. “The need is clearly there, and we must have safe schools in Arizona.”
Up to now, the program has never denied a grant request, a record Horne hopes to maintain. “Imagine if a school asked for an officer, but the funding was not available, and a maniac got on campus and killed people. Parents would never forgive that,” he said.
The SSP primarily relies on state dollars. According to the Arizona Department of Education, as of the 2025-26 school year, the program currently funds personnel at over 1,077 awarded schools across 14 counties, including:
369 School Counselors
143 Social Workers
247 School Resource Officers
3 Juvenile Probation Officers
243 School Safety Officer positions
The grant request process for schools without officers remains open through mid-April. To date, districts and charters have requested approximately $103 million for the FY27 School Safety Program, which would fund more than 700 additional positions for officers and counselors, with more requests anticipated.
“The high number of requests for money to pay for officers and counselors speaks volumes to the concerns school leaders have about campus safety,” Horne concluded. “As last week’s incident in Phoenix shows, the need for officers is great. The legislature and Governor must not fail in their efforts to find the resources schools need to protect innocent lives.”
In September 2025, Superintendent Horne submitted a legislative budget request for $180 million to sustain and expand the program. Current state funding, including initial appropriations and carryover, totals just over $128 million, supplemented by $20 million in federal dollars—both set to expire this year.
Approval of the $180 million request would maintain existing levels and provide an additional $32 million to add more officers and training to schools across the state.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona Senate Republicans are moving forward with legislation to strengthen school safety and emergency preparedness statewide, advancing a measure to allocate $3.2 million for enhanced communication and coordination during school emergencies.
The bill, SB 1582, cleared a key committee hurdle and is now headed toward a full Senate vote, with Republicans emphasizing their commitment to student protection amid unanimous Democratic opposition.
Sponsored by Senator Kevin Payne (R-LD27), SB 1582 appropriates $3.2 million from the state general fund in fiscal year 2026-2027 to the Arizona Department of Education for the school safety program established under A.R.S. § 15-154. The funding supports initiatives to improve interoperability and communication systems between schools, law enforcement, and first responders.
“This is exactly the kind of proactive, commonsense action that Arizonans expect from their Legislature,” stated Senator Payne in a recent press release announcing the advancement of school safety funding. “SB 1582 provides funding to enhance communication between schools and law enforcement, which is crucial for effective emergency response.”
“Republicans supported this bill because protecting children should never be a controversial issue. The fact that every democrat voted against it speaks volumes, but it won’t deter us from doing what’s right for students, parents, and educators across the state,” Payne added. “Voting against funding that improves school safety and emergency response is not principled; it’s irresponsible. When politics takes precedence over protecting children, lawmakers fail the very communities they were elected to serve.”
The bill updates requirements for communication systems funded through related programs, ensuring they are compatible, reliable, and effective during crises. It also allocates funding to the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) for the School Safety Interoperability Fund, strengthening coordination and promoting safer learning environments across the state.
Senator Mark Finchem (R-LD1), a retired law enforcement officer, expressed frustration with the Democratic opposition. “In the realm of public safety, there are no second chances; when communication fails, people can get hurt or even killed. SB 1582 would provide practical tools to help first responders during a school emergency.”
“Yet today, democrats chose to vote no. Tomorrow, they’ll likely use ‘school safety’ as a talking point when it’s politically convenient or when they want to score rhetorical points against common-sense policies,” continued Finchem. “This is not leadership; it’s hypocrisy. You cannot oppose funding that protects children and then claim the moral high ground. When it’s time to take action instead of just talking, their priorities are clear, and Arizona families deserve better.”
SB 1582 now awaits a full Senate vote.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
