by Matthew Holloway | Apr 6, 2026 | Education, News
By Matthew Holloway |
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.”
“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.
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.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 30, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
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.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 23, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee is advocating for reforming the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program to reduce improper spending.
The treasurer’s office manages the contract with the vendor operating the portal through which ESA holders submit reimbursement payments.
Yee shared that she directed her office to seek out vendors proposing to innovate better means of facilitating the expanding ESA program. The treasurer’s office will publish a formal request for information to secure a platform better suited to support the current scope of the program.
Over 100,000 families participate in the ESA Program.
“If there is a financial platform, or are updates to the current platform, that can provide families ESA program funds efficiently and identify any misspending or misuse, then Arizona taxpayers deserve to use that system,” said Yee.
Yee announced her RFI plan following a public dispute between Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne and the media over fraud, abuse, and waste within the ESA Program.
Horne maintains the program has low levels of those problems, but 12News argues they’re much higher.
12News claimed based on a risk-based audit that 20 percent of purchases under $2,000 within the ESA Program were fraudulent. Horne disputed that total as a “ridiculous” misunderstanding of data.
“Only 20 percent of that 20 percent were improper — that’s only four percent,” said Horne in an interview with KTAR News. “The other thing to know is, [those improper expenditures are] not all fraud. A lot of times it’s innocent mistakes, a paper that needs to be submitted, things that people think are okay but don’t fall into our standards. The amount of actual egregious purchases or fraud is 0.3 percent.”
The 0.3 percent figure came from a randomized study by a Stanford PhD, per Horne, which reviewed 3,000 random ESA orders between July 2025 and February 2026.
12News relied on public records to estimate in a report published last month that misspending “could” amount to 20 percent of all purchases in the ESA Program. According to their report, at least 18,000 of the 102,000 ESA Program participants had one or more unallowable purchases over the course of one year, which amounted to nearly 84,000 unallowable purchases.
Horne has demanded that 12News issue a retraction of their reporting perpetuating the 20 percent claim.
“A ridiculous figure of 20 percent fraud has been circulating concerning ESA purchases which resulted from a total misinterpretation of data provided to Channel 12. The 20 percent figure represented program participants that ADE had selected for risk-based auditing,” said Horne in a press release last week. “Continued use of the 20% fraud allegation is an outrageous misrepresentation to the public that must stop.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 16, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) accused a major media outlet of misrepresenting the amount of fraud that occurs within the state’s school choice program.
Per ADE, 12News claimed the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program had fraud totaling 20 percent. ADE said this figure was false, and that the true fraud rate sits at 0.3 percent.
The 20 percent claim originated from a risk-based audit — an audit of limited scope — which targeted specific higher-risk participants and accounts. It does not account for the entire ESA Program population, says ADE.
ADE presented the 0.3 percent figure from a study by Stanford PhD on a random sample to obtain a more accurate assessment of the entire ESA population. That study, which reviewed 3,000 random ESA orders between July 2025 and February 2026, also concluded that unallowable spending amounted to less than two percent of the total.
ADE Superintendent Tom Horne demanded 12News issue a retraction.
“A ridiculous figure of 20 percent fraud has been circulating concerning ESA purchases which resulted from a total misinterpretation of data provided to Channel 12. The 20 percent figure represented program participants that ADE had selected for risk-based auditing,” said Horne in a press release. “Continued use of the 20% fraud allegation is an outrageous misrepresentation to the public that must stop.”
By comparison, Horne noted, other government programs have higher rates of improper spending: Medicaid totals over seven percent, food stamps total over nine percent, and unemployment insurance totals over 14 percent.
Horne clarified that the unallowable purchases rate doesn’t constitute fraud necessarily. The superintendent said “most” of those purchases were confirmed as “innocent mistakes” such as improper form completions or viewing certain unpermitted educational items as permitted, like backpacks or lunch boxes.
Horne said ADE promptly recovers misspent funds, and has recovered over $1.2 million.
The disputed 20 percent figure was mentioned in multiple articles by 12News, including one of the latest pieces of coverage published on Wednesday.
“According to state records obtained by 12News Investigates, nearly 20% of ESA parents or at least 18,000 ESA account holders, have misused voucher funds,” read Wednesday’s article.
The original 20 percent figure by 12News stemmed from a report on public records reviewed by the outlet which estimated that misspending “could” amount to 20 percent of all purchases in the ESA Program. The report stated that over 18,600 out of the 102,000 ESA account holders had at least one unallowable purchase over the course of a year.
Horne said at the time that the percentage provided wasn’t totally representative of fraud; rather, the superintendent said “most of it” was attributable to mistakes by the parents.
While critics of the program highlight the millions ADE is forced to recover, mainly from misspending and marginally from fraud, supporters of the program highlight the millions saved by children entering the ESA Program rather than their designated public district school system.
Goldwater Institute director of education policy, Matt Beienburg, said in a press release that wrongful spending occurs just as much, if not more, in the public school district system.
“It’s also worth observing that just 52 cents of every dollar sent to Arizona district schools now makes it to classroom instruction according to the state auditor general,” said Beienburg. “Among the many uses of those funds outside the classroom: a $500,000 trip to Las Vegas by a school district that promptly cut bus services for students; a district spending $4,000 per person to send staff to Napa, California for a conference featuring wine tastings, a district spending $18,500 on ‘membership dues and for staff to attend golf tournaments,’ and more.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Ethan Faverino | Mar 11, 2026 | Education, News
By Ethan Faverino |
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.
“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.
