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House backs changes to school-safety grants, shifts safety-assessment schedule to five years
Summary
House Bill 2074, which modifies school-safety grant rules, was recommended for passage after amending the assessment frequency to every five years, requiring participating schools to develop emergency response plans and incorporating charter schools.
The Arizona House recommended passage of House Bill 2074 after adopting an education committee amendment that changes how school-safety assessments are scheduled and clarifies grant requirements.
Representative Gress, presenting the bill, said HB 2074 is the product of a school-safety task force convened by Superintendent Horn that included 23 members: legislators, school resource officers, counselors and other education personnel. "This bill is a product of those discussions," Gress said on the floor.
The education committee amendment adopted on the floor requires school-safety assessments to occur every five years rather than annually and specifies that schools participating in the school-safety grant must develop emergency-response plans as already required by existing statute. The amendment also clarifies that charter schools are included in program language.
Gress told the House that Arizona annually allocates about $82 million for school-safety grants to hire personnel such as SROs or counselors but that nearly $30 million remains unspent because districts cannot fill those positions. The bill, he said, gives schools flexibility to redirect grant funds to physical safety measures such as locks, fencing and cameras and expands who may serve as a school resource officer to include AZPOST-certified retired or off-duty officers.
The Committee of the Whole voted to recommend HB 2074 do pass as amended by voice vote; the measure was referred to engrossing under the House report.
