Faced with a $3.5 million shortfall because of rising salaries, a supervisory committee was forced to eliminate more than three dozen police and probation officers on school campuses as part of the across-the-board cuts to school safety programs.
Rather than eliminate the programs entirely at specific schools, the School Safety Program Oversight Committee opted to make several changes that applied to all schools in the program.
Because salaries for officers have increased substantially in recent years, the Committee chose to eliminate multiple officers at the same school. As a result, there will be 38 fewer police and juvenile probation officers at 10 schools. The reduction represents a 14-percent cut in the total number of officers assigned to schools.
Additionally, the Committee reduced the year-long contracts for 116 officers to 11-month agreements. Affected school districts will be responsible for paying the officers for the remaining month. The School Safety Program will also no longer provide funding for supplies and equipment for officers or participating schools.
Cuts ‘need to be made’
However, some Committee members said the reductions in force and spending were just a reality of having about $18 million in requests, but less than $15 million in funding.
“I wish we had enough money for all of it, but, unfortunately, some of these cuts need to be made,” said Andy Swann, lobbyist for the Associated Highway Patrolmen of Arizona and a Department of Public Safety officer.
The reductions were recommended by the Department of Education. While presenting the options to the Committee, Jean Ajamie, the Department’s director of School Safety and Prevention, said that, while the cuts would be a definite hardship on affected schools, they were not the worst-case scenario.
“It’s relatively little damage, considering the deficit we’re facing,” she said.
The School Safety Program is funded by both the Legislature and proceeds from Proposition 301, which was approved by votes in 2000. Funding from the ballot measure, which increases state sales tax to pay for various educational programs, is about $7.8 million each year.
A pair of bills introduced in the most recent legislative session would have increased state funding for the School Safety Program, but neither received a hearing.