PHOENIX — When Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne offered grant money to pay for school resource officers, 301 schools were awarded grants.
Of those schools, 138 ended up not being able to spend the money. They couldn't find a qualified resource officer, so the position was left unfilled.
"We need to have some licensing situation whereby people who retire are no longer certified can get recertified for the purposes of being school resource officers," Horne said.
Tapping into retired police officers to fill the need for school resource officers is one of the proposals made by the School Safety Task Force. The Task Force is made up of educators, legislators, mental health professionals and law enforcement.
Last week, the Mesa Unified School District approved funding for installing weapons detectors on some of its campuses.
"We have to create a safe environment," said Allen Moore, Director of Security for Mesa Public Schools.
A growing number of school districts are now installing weapons and vape detectors. Allen Moore says it is all part of making schools safe, "With a lot of the technology, with the cameras and the locks and now weapons detectors which are very unintimidating, I think we're achieving that goal."
Superintendent Horne says he will be asking the legislature for money to fund security hardening for schools along with money so the Department of Education can include school psychologists and mental health training in its grant program.
Horne says the Department of Education doesn't know how much all that will cost. The legislature returns in January and is already facing a deficit estimated to be $400 million.