Committee advances $40 million school‑safety funding amendment after requests far exceed available dollars

The committee adopted a strike‑everything amendment to House Bill 23 76 that would appropriate $40 million from the state general fund in FY 2027 to the Arizona Department of Education for the school safety program and direct ADE to prioritize grants for school resource officers and school safety officers.

Representative Matt Gress said the appropriation represents a compromise to address district requests for safety personnel; ADE’s director of school safety, Mike Kurtenbach, said the program has a base appropriation of roughly $82.1 million and that recent carryover allowed an additional $48 million, yet requests for positions and services exceed available funding by a significant margin (Mike Kurtenbach, SEG 2210–2226).

Heather Rooks, a Peoria Unified school board member, urged more funding for SROs and SSOs and said trained on‑campus safety personnel “build relationships with students” and support safer learning environments (Heather Rooks, SEG 2173–2182). Kurtenbach told the committee the grant program runs on three‑year cycles and ADE had received over $135 million in requests as of the hearing.

The amendment was adopted and the committee gave HB 23 76 a due‑pass recommendation by a 4–3 vote. Staff and witnesses acknowledged the appropriation would not meet all district requests and called it a partial step toward broader school safety investments.

What happens next: ADE will likely flesh out grant priorities and scoring if the appropriation advances; sponsors signaled continued conversations about funding levels and prioritization.