school safety program; alternative proposals

HB2831 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
school safety program; alternative proposals

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2831

Introduced by

Representative
Keshel

AN
ACT

amending section 15-154, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to school safety requirements.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 15-154, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
15-154.

School safety program;
purpose; program proposals; requirements; annual report; public records
exemption; definitions

A. The school safety program is established within
the department of education to support, promote and enhance safe and effective
learning environments for all students by supporting the costs of placing
school resource officers, juvenile probation officers, school safety officers,
school counselors and school social workers on school campuses. The
school safety program may also support the costs of purchasing safety
technology, safety training and infrastructure improvements for school campuses
as provided in subsection D of this section.� A school district or charter
school may apply to participate in the school safety program as provided in
this section for up to three fiscal years by submitting by April 15 a program
proposal to the department of education. A school district or
charter school that receives approval for a three-year program under this
subsection may annually submit a modified spending plan for its approved
program.

B. A program proposal submitted by a school district
or charter school for supporting the costs of placing school resource officers,
juvenile probation officers or school safety officers, or any combination of
these officers, on a school campus shall contain:

1. A detailed description of the school safety needs
of the charter school or school district.

2. A plan to provide the current school building
blueprints, floor plans and school safety assessments for each school site to
the local law enforcement agency, emergency medical services provider and fire
department that provides services to the school site.

3. A plan for implementing a law-related
education program or a plan that demonstrates the existence of a law-related
education program as a school safety prevention strategy.

4. A plan to use trained school resource officers,
juvenile probation officers or school safety officers, or any combination of
these officers, in the school.

5. A plan to train school resource officers,
juvenile probation officers or school safety officers, or any combination of
these officers, on the family educational rights and privacy act, civil rights
and adolescent mental health issues.

6. If the school district or charter school has
already participated in the school safety program, information on the success,
compliance and implementation of the most recent grant.

C. A program proposal submitted by a school district
or charter school for supporting the costs of placing school counselors or
school social workers, or both, on a school campus shall contain:

1. A detailed description of the school safety needs
of the charter school or school district.

2. A plan to provide the current school building
blueprints, floor plans and school safety assessments for each school site to
the local law enforcement agency, emergency medical services provider and fire
department that provides services to the school site.

3. A plan for implementing a school guidance and
counseling program that includes the following:

(a) A detailed description of the relationship
between the school counselor or the school social worker, or both, and local
community resources.

(b) A plan for using school counselor and school
social worker services in the school, or both.

(c) A detailed description of the methods for
evaluating the effectiveness of the school guidance and counseling plan.

(d) Policies on confidentiality under the school
guidance and counseling plan.

(e) Policies on notifying parents and other family
members of issues or concerns as identified in the school guidance and
counseling plan.

(f) A detailed description of the school's, school
district's or charter school's referral procedures to the appropriate community
entities and state agencies.

4. If the school district or charter school has
already participated in the school safety program, information on the success,
compliance and implementation of the most recent approved program proposal.

D.
If a school district or charter
school whose program proposal pursuant to subsection B or C of this section was
approved by the state board of education cannot place one or more of the school
resource officers, juvenile probation officers, school safety officers, school
counselors or school social workers, or any combination of these individuals,
as included in the approved program proposal, the school district or charter
school may submit an alternative

A
program
proposal
submitted by a school district or charter school
for
supporting the costs of purchasing safety technology, safety training and
infrastructure improvements for its school campus or campuses
. An
alternative program proposal submitted pursuant to this subsection
shall
contain:

1. A detailed description of the safety needs of the
school district or charter school.

2. A detailed description of the proposed
expenditures and capital improvements, including:

(a) The safety needs that each proposed expenditure
will address.

(b) The specific technology or training program that
the school district or charter school seeks to acquire.

(c) For infrastructure improvements, all costs
associated with the improvements, including architectural and engineering fees,
safety evaluations and equipment for securing entrances and exits.

3. Any other information requested by the department
of education.

E. The department of education shall review and
administer the school resource officers, juvenile probation officers and school
safety officers program proposals in cooperation with the courts, law
enforcement agencies and law-related education providers awarded a
contract pursuant to section 41-2534, subject to review and approval by
the state board of education. The department of education shall use
relevant crime statistics to assess the needs of each program proposal and
shall visit school districts and charter schools that submit program proposals
in order to verify the information contained in the program
proposals. The department of education shall contract to provide
guidelines, curricula and support resources for school resource officers,
juvenile probation officers and school safety officers to use in implementing a
law-related education program.

F. The department of education shall review and
administer the school counselors and school social workers program proposals in
cooperation with school administrators, principals, teachers, parents and
community mental health professionals. The department of education
shall use relevant school-level academic, social and emotional statistics to
assess the needs of each program proposal and shall visit school districts and
charter schools that submit program proposals in order to verify the
information contained in the program proposals.

G. The department of education shall review and
administer the safety technology, safety training and infrastructure
improvements program proposals. The department shall use relevant
crime statistics to assess the needs of each program proposal and may visit
school districts and charter schools that submit program proposals in order to
verify the information contained in the program proposals. The
department may approve all or part of a safety technology, safety training or
infrastructure improvement program proposal.

H. The department of education, subject to the
review and approval of the state board of education, shall distribute monies to
the school districts and charter schools that are in compliance with program
requirements prescribed in this section and in section 15-154.02 and
whose program proposals have been approved by the state board of education.

I. The department of education shall review program
proposals submitted by school districts and charter schools for participation
in the school safety program and shall select school sites that are eligible to
receive funding based on school safety needs pursuant to this section.� The
department of education may prioritize program proposals for school resource
officer, juvenile probation officer and school safety officer grants to school
districts and charter schools that have agreements to share the cost of the
school resource officer, juvenile probation officer or school safety officer
with a law enforcement agency or the courts.

J. The department of education shall evaluate the
effectiveness of all the approved program proposals submitted pursuant to
subsections B, C and D of this section within the school safety program and
report on the activities of the program and the participants in the school
safety program to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of
representatives and the governor on or before November 1 of each year and shall
provide a copy of this report to the secretary of state. The
evaluation and report shall include survey results from participating schools
and data from participating schools on the impact of participating in the
school safety program. The department shall establish data
guidelines for school safety program participants to follow in reporting
pursuant to this subsection.

K. The school safety program established by this
section shall include a school safety program guidance manual adopted by the
department of education that requires a dispute resolution process to be
included in the service agreement between a school district or charter school
that submitted a program proposal and received a school resource officer grant
or school safety officer grant from the school safety program and the law
enforcement agency that provides services to the school district or charter
school.

L. Any appropriations that are made to the
department of education for the approved program proposals within the school
safety program are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating
to lapsing of appropriations.� All monies that are not used for an approved
program proposal within the school safety program during the fiscal year for
which the monies were appropriated revert to the department of education for
distribution to the program in the following fiscal year.

M. Monies received by a school district or charter
school under the school safety program shall be spent to implement the approved
program proposals.

N. The auditor general shall include the school
safety program as part of its ongoing sunset review of agencies and programs.

O. Notwithstanding any other law, school building
blueprints and floor plans are not public records and are exempt from title 39,
chapter 1.

P. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Law-related education" means
interactive education to equip children and youth with knowledge and skills
pertaining to the law, school safety and effective citizenship.

2. "Law-related education program"
means a program designed to provide children and youth with knowledge, skills
and activities pertaining to the law and legal process and to promote law-abiding
behavior with the purpose of preventing children and youth from engaging in
delinquency or violence and enabling them to become productive citizens.

3. "School counselor" means a professional
educator who holds a valid school counselor certificate issued by the
department of education.

4. "School guidance and counseling
program" means a counseling program that supports, promotes and enhances
the academic, personal, social, emotional and career development of all
students.

5. "School resource officer" means any of
the following:

(a) A peace officer.

(b) A full-authority reserve peace officer who
is certified by the Arizona peace officer standards and training board.

(c) An individual who was previously employed as a
peace officer in this state, who retired in good standing

and who is assigned to participate in the school
safety program by a law enforcement agency pursuant to section 15-155.

6. "School safety officer" means a school
resource officer who is working in an off-duty capacity.

7. "School social worker" means a
professional educator who holds a valid school social worker certificate issued
by the department of education.
END_STATUTE