HB2548 - 561R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 15-154, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-154. School safety program; proposals; mental health professionals; law-related education; annual report; definitions

A. The school safety program is established within the department of education to support, promote and enhance safe and effective learning environments for all students by supporting the costs of placing school resource officers, juvenile probation officers, school counselors and school social workers school-based mental health professionals on school campuses. A school district or charter school may apply to participate in the school safety program as provided in this section for up to three fiscal years by submitting by April 15 a program proposal to the department of education. A school district or charter school that receives approval for a three-year program under this subsection may annually submit a modified spending plan for its approved program.

B. A program proposal submitted by a school district or charter school for supporting the costs of placing school resource officers or juvenile probation officers, or both, on a school campus shall contain:

1. A detailed description of the school safety needs of the charter school or school district.

2. A plan for implementing a law-related education program or a plan that demonstrates the existence of a law-related education program as a school safety prevention strategy.

3. A plan to use trained school resource officers or juvenile probation officers in the school, or both.

4. If the school district or charter school has already participated in the school safety program, information on the success, compliance and implementation of the most recent grant.

C. A program proposal submitted by a school district or charter school for supporting the costs of placing school counselors or school social workers, or both, one or more school-based mental health professionals on a school campus shall contain:

1. A detailed description of the school safety needs of the charter school or school district.

2. A plan for implementing a school guidance and counseling school-based mental health program that includes the following:

(a) A detailed description of the relationship between the school counselor or the social worker, or both, each school-based mental health professional and local community resources.

(b) A school-based mental health professional services plan for using school counselor and school social worker the services of each school-based mental health professional in the school, or both.

(c) A detailed description of the methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the school guidance and counseling plan school-based mental health professional services plan.

(d) Policies on confidentiality under the school guidance and counseling plan school-based mental health professional services plan.

(e) Policies on notifying parents and other family members of issues or concerns as identified in the school guidance and counseling plan school-based mental health professional services plan.

(f) A detailed description of the school's, school district's or charter school's referral procedures to the appropriate community entities and state agencies.

3. If the school district or charter school has already participated in the school safety program, information on the success, compliance and implementation of the most recent approved program proposal.

D. The department of education shall review and administer the school resource officers and juvenile probation officers program proposals in cooperation with the courts, law enforcement agencies and law-related education providers awarded a contract pursuant to section 41-2534, subject to review and approval by the state board of education. The department of education shall use relevant crime statistics to assess the needs of each program proposal and shall visit school districts and charter schools that submit program proposals in order to verify the information contained in the program proposals. The department of education shall contract to provide guidelines, curricula and support resources for school resource officers and juvenile probation officers to use in implementing a law-related education program.

E. The department of education shall review and administer the school counselors and school social workers school-based mental health program proposals in cooperation with school administrators, principals, teachers, parents and community mental health professionals. The department of education shall use relevant school-level academic, social and emotional statistics to assess the needs of each program proposal and shall visit school districts and charter schools that submit program proposals in order to verify the information contained in the program proposals.

F. The department of education, subject to the review and approval of the state board of education, shall distribute monies to the school districts and charter schools that are in compliance with program requirements and whose program proposals have been approved by the state board of education.

G. The department of education shall review program proposals submitted by school districts and charter schools for participation in the school safety program and shall select school sites that are eligible to receive funding based on school safety needs pursuant to this section. The department of education may prioritize program proposals for school resource officer and juvenile probation officer grants to school districts and charter schools that have agreements to share the cost of the school resource officer or juvenile probation officer with a law enforcement agency or the courts.

H. The department of education shall evaluate the effectiveness of all the approved program proposals submitted pursuant to subsections B and C of this section within the school safety program and report on the activities of the program and the participants in the school safety program to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives and the governor on or before November 1 of each year and shall provide a copy of this report to the secretary of state. The evaluation and report shall include survey results from participating schools and data from participating schools on the impact of participating in the school safety program. The department shall establish data guidelines for school safety program participants to follow in reporting pursuant to this subsection.

I. The school safety program established by this section shall include a school safety program guidance manual adopted by the department of education that requires a dispute resolution process to be included in the service agreement between a school district or charter school that submitted a program proposal and received a school resource officer grant from the school safety program and the law enforcement agency that provides services to the school district or charter school.

J. Any appropriations that are made to the department of education for the approved program proposals within the school safety program are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations. All monies that are not used for an approved program proposal within the school safety program during the fiscal year for which the monies were appropriated revert to the department of education for distribution to the program in the following fiscal year.

K. Monies received by a school district or charter school under the program shall be spent to implement the approved program proposals.

L. The auditor general shall include the school safety program as part of its ongoing sunset review of agencies and programs.

M. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Law-related education" means interactive education to equip children and youth with knowledge and skills pertaining to the law, school safety and effective citizenship.

2. "Law-related education program" means a program designed to provide children and youth with knowledge, skills and activities pertaining to the law and legal process and to promote law-abiding behavior with the purpose of preventing children and youth from engaging in delinquency or violence and enabling them to become productive citizens.

3. "School counselor School-based mental health professional" means any of the following:

(a) A professional educator who holds a valid school counselor certificate issued by the department of education.

(b) A professional educator who holds a valid school social worker certificate issued by the DEPARTMENT of education.

(d) An individual who meets all of the following requirements:

(i) Is a behavioral health provider who is licensed pursuant to title 32, chapter 33.

(ii) Provides children's behavioral heath services pursuant to section 36-3436.

(iii) Provides or will provide school-based mental health services pursuant to a contract with the school district or charter school.

4. "School guidance and counseling School-based mental health program" means a counseling program that supports, promotes and enhances the academic, personal, social, emotional and career development of all students.

5. "School resource officer" means a peace officer or a full-authority reserve peace officer who is certified by the Arizona peace officer standards and training board.

6. "School social worker" means a professional educator who holds a valid school social worker certificate issued by the department of education. END_STATUTE