State Superintendent Tom Horne is calling for a significant expansion of law enforcement presence in schools, citing hundreds of gun-related threats each year and arguing that student achievement depends on secure campuses.
Horne delivered his 2026 State of Education speech to the House Education Committee this week, focusing on school safety. He pointed to alarming statistics, showing law enforcement receives calls about student gun threats more than 500 times annually in Arizona.
"In schools without police officers, we are playing Russian roulette with a catastrophe waiting to happen," Horne told lawmakers.
Under his leadership, the number of police officers stationed at Arizona schools has nearly tripled, jumping from 190 to 565. Now he wants the legislature to fund further expansion.
"There are no massacres in police stations because they can defend themselves," he said. "We owe it to our students and staff to defend them."
Additional Achievements
Beyond security, Horne discussed remarkable academic achievements, such as Project Momentum, an initiative his department revived after it was discontinued. Since then, the program has delivered impressive results.
Participating schools show reading improvement at twice the state average and math gains at three times the average rate.
Native American school districts have seen particularly dramatic turnarounds. Six districts more than doubled their math proficiency scores. Two schools even surpassed statewide averages in both subjects.
The department also directly intervened at Wilson School, an economically disadvantaged school, with staff visiting weekly to mentor teachers. The result was a 27% jump in math performance.
Horne also redirected federal COVID-19 relief funds toward free tutoring, with more than 17% of participating students gaining six months' worth of skills in just six weeks.
Continued Advocacy
The superintendent also advocated for Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Program and his Student Industry Partnership initiative, which connects students with job training opportunities.
He urged lawmakers to renew Proposition 123 with provisions ensuring teacher pay raises go directly to educators. Originally passed in 2016, Prop 123 temporarily increased annual distributions from the State Land Trust to K-12 schools that ended in 2025.
“I do not understand how anyone can say the parents do not have a right to find a school that meets their child’s needs," Horne concluded. "[Unless] people are so immersed in ideology that they lose sight of what is the best for students."
