"The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary was unimaginable.Our job now is to take common sense steps that lessen the likelihood of a similar tragedy striking Arizona – while resisting the urge to turn a school into a fortress. Part of the solution is something that already has a track record of success: the School Resource Officer. My budget plan will expand State funding for these trained officers." (Source: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer: "State Of The State" Remarks: January 14, 2013).
The Governor delivered these remarks in here 35-minute annual "State Of The State" speech today. The budget plan will be released this Friday.
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2 comments:
Looks like Governor Jan Brewer isn’t the only one who wants school resource officers back.
I applaud Governor Jan Brewer and Arizona House Democrat Chad Campbell, the House Minority Leader and representative from District 24 in Phoenix, who are both looking for the return of school resource officers.
Read news article:
“Phoenix legislator wants to bring back school resources officers, more to keep students safe”.
Copy and paste into your browser:
http://arizona.newszap.com/eastvalley/119114-114/phoenix-legislator-wants-to-bring-back-school-resources-officers-more-to-keep-students-safe
Background on “old” School Safety Program years ago
State of Arizona School Safety Program
The School Safety Program was a state-funded grant that placed School Resource Officers (SROs) and/or Juvenile Probation Officers (JPOs) in selected schools to contribute to safe school environments that are conducive to teaching and learning.
The State-Funded Grants were eliminated by the State of Arizona about six or seven years ago. What impact did this situation have on municipal budgets?
City of Tucson School Resource Officer (SRO) Program
The School Resource Officer program was staffed by 23 experienced officers, specially selected and trained to work with young people. Each officer was assigned to a public middle school and the neighborhood elementary schools or high schools within the city limits. Each SRO was responsible for about six schools and worked closely with the faculty and staff in situations that may have required mediation or intervention in problems involving students.
The City of Tucson eliminated their entire School Resource Officer Program.
Town of Oro Valley School Resource Officer (SRO) Program
The Oro Valley Police Department, in cooperation with the Amphitheater School District, maintained seven (7) fulltime School Resource Officers (SRO). There is also one sergeant in charge of the SRO unit.
There have been no intergovernmental agreements for adopted budgets FY 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2011/2012 and FY2012/2013 between Amphi School District and Town of Oro Valley
The citizens of Oro Valley pay both primary and secondary PIMA county property taxes and a portion of those taxes is used to support the Amphitheater School District Oro Valley Schools.
The citizens of Oro Valley pay additional taxes from the Oro Valley General Fund to support the Amphitheater School Resource Officer Program.
State Funding would be an excellent move!
John Musolf
Does this mean that the $700K (or a portion thereof) will be now placed in the OV contingency fund?
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