The Arizona Department of Education is directing funding toward two school workforce priorities: campus safety personnel and teacher recruitment.

State schools chief Tom Horne said the department will use about $53 million in School Safety Program carryover dollars from previous years to fund all first-position requests for armed school officers and mental health professionals for FY27.

Horne said in an official statement:

“School safety is of the utmost priority, and I am committed to providing armed officers to every school that makes a request. Well-trained, armed officers are the first line of defense if a maniac attempts to get on campus to harm people.”

The department says the funding will fill 560 first-position requests for officers in the coming school year. The School Safety Program has grown significantly since it began with 113 funded officers, according to the department.

The state also is providing funding to support 523 mental health professionals. Arizona’s school safety legislation allows districts and charter schools to request funding for either category, depending on their needs. A school makes a first-position request based on whether it prefers an officer or a mental health professional, according to the department.

Teacher apprenticeship grant aims to expand recruitment

In a separate announcement, the Arizona Department of Education said it will receive a $300,000 grant over two years to expand its teacher apprenticeship and mentoring program. The department is among sub-recipients of grant funds awarded by the National Center for Grow Your Own from the nonprofit Ascendium Education Group.

The added funding is expected to support about 100 apprentices as well as mentor teachers statewide. The grant is intended to help Arizona recruit, train, and retain more teachers amid ongoing staffing challenges.

The grant project’s goals include increasing the number of fully licensed teachers prepared through high-quality, debt-free apprenticeship programs; building state-level infrastructure and policy systems to sustain programs beyond philanthropic funding; and using the registered apprenticeship model to improve educator preparation while lowering the cost of earning a teaching degree.

Why this matters

For school district leaders, these announcements point to the staffing pressures that shape school operations beyond the classroom. Safety officers, mental health professionals, teachers, and mentors all affect how schools function day to day. Targeted funding can help districts address immediate needs, but one-time dollars also raise long-term planning questions about sustainability, staffing commitments, and future appropriations.