Overview
- The Phoenix Union Governing Board voted Thursday night to accept Arizona School Safety Grant funds that will expand school resource officers and school safety officers from six to 15 starting this fall.
- The board approved $2.7 million per year through 2029 to cover the added positions, which amounts to about $185,000 allocated per SRO/SSO position over a three-year span.
- Under the plan one officer will be assigned to each of the district’s 11 comprehensive campuses and four officers will rotate among the district’s small and specialty schools.
- The decision reverses the district’s 2020 move to cut ties with SROs and follows a partial reinstatement in 2023 and a 2025 vote that rejected state funding, and the meeting drew split public comment with students asking for more counselors instead of more officers.
- The vote comes as regional law-enforcement issues — a criticized Maricopa County plea deal and sentencing, an Avondale officer-involved shooting that left a man with non-life-threatening injuries, and the removal of five Flock license-plate cameras in Chandler — continue to fuel debate over policing, surveillance and accountability.