District outlines state SRO, social‑worker grants; police staffing limits curb adding officers

Chandler Unified School District officials told the governing board on Jan. 15 that state school‑safety grants cover salaries and benefits for its 12 school resource officers (SROs) and have been used to add social‑worker positions—but that local police staffing determines whether the district can place additional officers on campuses.

Mark Huish, the district’s director of school safety and security, summarized rules in the Arizona Department of Education’s School Safety Program and said the current three‑year grant cycle (July 2023–June 2026) guarantees about $1,795,000 per year to support the district’s SROs. “That equates to over $5,000,000 in the SRO grant funding for that three‑year cycle,” Huish said. The district used a related mini‑grant to add three social‑worker positions, increasing that staffing from 10 to 13 positions, he added.

Huish described program requirements drawn from the ADE manual: SROs must be on campus at least 80% of the time, meet quarterly and annual training expectations, and participate on each school’s Safety Assessment and Prevention Team (SSAPT). The department also provides membership in school‑resource associations and training on suicide prevention, threat assessment, de‑escalation and equity issues. Huish said the department’s guidance still recommends law‑related education (LRE) instruction—about 100 hours at the junior‑high level and 80 hours at the high‑school level in the district—even though state guidance has changed in recent years.

Officer Du, a former SRO at Chandler High School, described SRO duties in practice: mentoring students, teaching classes, helping with emergency management and serving as an on‑campus law enforcement resource. He and other presenters stressed the prevention and relationship‑building roles of SROs: “The most powerful relationships are built during non‑enforcement activities,” he said.

Board members asked about how funding and placements are decided. Huish said the district applies to ADE for SRO and social‑worker slots for all qualifying campuses; if the district wins grant money it can apply it where districts requested it. He emphasized a practical limit: if a police partner (town or city department) cannot assign an officer to a campus, the district cannot use the grant to create a slot without an available sworn officer. That constraint led the district last cycle to pursue additional social‑worker funding when local police agencies reported they could not staff new SRO positions.

Huish and other presenters said SRO compensation is initially covered by the ADE award, but when officers receive salary increases the district and the employing police agency typically split pay increases 50/50 to make up the difference beyond the grant amount.

Administrators said each campus’s SSAPT meetings and quarterly logs are reported to ADE and used to monitor grant compliance and impact. District officials also noted planned threat and vulnerability assessments by state partners and continued work to bring emergency operations plans into alignment with recent audit findings.

Ending: The presentation was informational. Board members indicated they will discuss recommendations and potential next steps at a future planning session.