BASIS Peoria

Through a collaborative collaboration, ADE and the Foundation provide training, resources, and technical assistance to School Safety Program sites that have been assigned SROs or JPOs to help them effectively accomplish the goals and objectives specified in the Arizona School Safety Program Guidance Manual. 

Officers from the School Safety Program maintain a visible presence on campus, dissuade delinquent and aggressive conduct, act as a resource to the school community, and provide Law-Related Education (LRE) teaching and training to students and employees. LRE aims to educate students for responsible citizenship by encouraging the development of qualities that contribute to healthy conduct. LRE is legal education that actively engages students in learning about rules, laws, and the legal system.

Governor Ducey’s School Safety Plan

Students in Arizona have the right to feel secure in their classrooms, and parents have the right to rest easy knowing that their children are secure at school and in their neighborhoods. Learning from prior tragedies and examining system flaws, areas where resources may be allocated to safeguard against serious threats and address loopholes to better protect Arizonans while still protecting law-abiding residents’ Second Amendment rights have been found.

Governor Ducey met with students, parents, teachers, school administrators, behavioral and mental health professionals, law enforcement officers, county prosecutors, Democratic and Republican legislators, the Arizona Attorney General, and the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop these Arizona-based solutions.

The Governor’s school-safety plan would increase funding for mental and behavioral health services, establish a central tip line for potential threats, improve background checks, increase law enforcement presence on school grounds, and develop a new tool to help keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous or disturbed people.

The proposal focuses on three areas: school-based mental and behavioral health resources, gun access restrictions for people who are prohibited from possessing firearms or who pose a threat to others, and additional school resource officers and armed volunteers. It excludes a “school marshal” program, which would arm some school staff and is being advocated by Republican legislators.

Democrats are fighting for universal background checks for gun purchases, and they are vehemently opposed to the bill since it does not include that provision.

Some Republicans are concerned about new measures that make it easier for judges to take weapons away from persons deemed a threat. A legal guardian, police enforcement officer, or school official can now seek a judge to order a mental examination and the removal of a person’s guns under the new “Severe Threat Order of Protection” provisions.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s plan to improve school safety is likely to include $11 million for new school police officers, but it faces an uphill battle due to bipartisan resistance to various aspects of the plan.

The Republican governor’s proposal shows just a $2 million increase in state expenditures for school resource officers, compared to the current $12 million.