Arizona tackles school safety with people-first solutions

By Stacy Mantle
Mail

A deadly school shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Aug. 27 left two children dead and 17 others injured, renewing calls for school safety measures that extend beyond locked doors and cameras.

While Minnesota grieves, Arizona leaders say the state is working to prevent tragedies by putting people at the center of school safety.

“The school shooting in Minnesota is an incredible tragedy,” said Superintendent Tom Horne. “My heart goes out to the victims and their families. Avoiding this happening in Arizona is why I have increased the number of police officers in our schools from 190 to 563. Earlier this year, one of those police officers, who had been in place for just two weeks, arrested a man who had entered a school with a gun and a knife saying that he was going to kill students to make them famous.”

Expanding the school safety program

House Bill 2074, signed into law May 6, 2025, broadened the state’s School Safety Program under ARS 15-154. The measure allows retired police officers to serve as school safety officers and funds counselors and social workers alongside school resource officers.

“Even if we gave every school an SRO, there aren’t enough officers to go around,” said Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix. “SSOs open up school safety.”

Arizona now invests $82 million a year in school safety staff. Officers are required to complete training in adolescent mental health, disabilities, civil rights and student privacy. They also deliver 180 hours of law-related education annually, designed to build trust and encourage responsible citizenship.

Gaps in emergency preparedness

Despite progress, lawmakers acknowledge uneven compliance. Gress said recent reviews showed schools failing to meet even one required component of their emergency operations plans — a finding he called unacceptable.

Arizona law requires:

• Emergency operations plans: All district and charter schools must create, update and test an emergency operations plan that meets state standards. Required under ARS 15-341(A)(31).
  
• School Safety Program grants: Campuses can apply for three-year grants to fund school resource officers, juvenile probation officers, counselors, or social workers, with required implementation and evaluation plans. Governed by ARS 15-154. Not every school must apply, but if they do, they are legally bound to follow the program’s requirements.
  
• Safety infrastructure and training: A 2025 law expanded funding to cover safety technology upgrades, while requiring officers to receive training on disabilities, civil rights, adolescent mental health and student privacy law. Required under SB 1369 (2023, 56th Legislature).
  
• Annual reporting: The Arizona Department of Education must submit yearly reports on school safety and learning conditions to the Legislature and governor. A 2025 law, signed May 6, 2025, expanded the School Safety Program to allow grant funding for technology (e.g., panic buttons) and requires officers to be trained in disabilities, civil rights, adolescent mental health and student privacy.
  
• Oversight and audits: The Arizona Auditor General is required to audit ADE programs, including school safety, and report compliance to the Legislature. Schools themselves are subject to compliance checks, though enforcement has been inconsistent.

Audits have found gaps in enforcement, leaving many schools unprepared.

Community care and culture

School safety strategies also include relationship-building and limiting distractions. In Scottsdale Unified, safety is summed up in the acronym “DIG-IT” — Doors, ID, Gates and IT (cybersecurity).

School districts like Cave Creek USD reportedly maintain emergency response plans across all campuses. These include lockdown, evacuation and reunification procedures, with accompanying training for staff and accessible off-site evacuation locations.

In the event of a security incident, CCUSD notifies parents via text, automated calls, emails or printed advisories.

Districts that offer laptops to students also employ tools like Gaggle and GoGuardian to monitor student activity for risks such as self-harm, violence, explicit content, bullying or drug-related behavior, with alerts sent to the administration when necessary.

Arizona also became one of the first states to restrict cell phone use during school hours, a move supporters say improves focus and ensures students remain alert during emergencies.

“If I need to get a hold of my kid, or something bad happens on campus … we need kids alert and listening to school personnel,” Gress said.

Arizona’s model layers trained personnel, modern infrastructure and community care into a framework that emphasizes prevention and accountability.

Nationally, school shootings with injuries or deaths are down 22.5% in the first half of 2025 compared with the previous year, according to K-12 Dive. Arizona officials say the state’s investments in people and planning are designed to keep that momentum moving forward.

“Whether it’s private or public, the state does have a responsibility to ensure that kids are kept safe and that we prevent any harm,” Gress said.

Editor’s note: A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.