PHOENIX — A new state audit raises questions about $26 million spent on school safety communications systems.
Since 2019, the state has invested about $26 million into what’s called the School Safety Interoperability Fund. The money is meant to help law enforcement buy equipment to improve emergency communication between them and schools, which could include secure text messaging systems, panic buttons and more.
In an audit released in December, the Auditor General’s report looked at how the funds from this are being used and if they’re meeting statutory requirements.
Auditors looked at 14 different law enforcement agencies across Arizona, which include sheriff’s offices as well as local police departments.
The report found that the systems purchased by law enforcement agencies involved only about 20% of Arizona’s public schools, which include traditional public districts and charter schools. The audit found that 4 of 14 law enforcement agencies that received the state funds also reported using the funds with private and/or tribal schools.
“Which was contrary to statute and may have improperly benefited these schools,” the report read.
The audit says most law enforcement agencies also did not follow procurement requirements and their contracts with one of the three companies “lacked essential protections.”
In trying to test out the systems, the audit said some of the systems didn’t work properly for the auditors to test out their operations.
"There were certain issues or functional problems with the systems and we're not sure the state got the benefit that they intended to get from buying these systems,” said Scott Swagerty, the director of the school audits division with the Auditor General’s Office.
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While some of the systems they tried to test didn’t function properly, Swaggerty said schools and law enforcement still had lines of communication.
“Schools still had ways to communicate with law enforcement during emergencies. We have concerns on whether the $26 million the state has invested in these systems was spent effectively,” he said.
The Auditor General’s Office put in several recommendations to both the legislature as well as law enforcement agencies using the money. One to the legislature included revising and clarifying the law on whether nonpublic schools can participate in the systems used and purchased by the funds.
Another key issue brought up in the report: law enforcement agencies didn’t plan for ongoing costs and may not use the communication systems purchased with the funds if ongoing state funding is not available.
“We have recommendations that they should make plans for the ongoing operation costs, which is likely a multimillion-dollar annual funding commitment for the state,” Swagerty said.
The audit also recommends that law enforcement agencies to improve documentation on their purchases, make sure the systems are working efficiently and more. The Auditor General’s Office says the recommendations made to the agencies were agreed upon and will be implemented by those agencies that received the money. The full report can be found here.
This report was done at the request of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee back in 2023 and was the second in a series of audits looking into the state’s school safety system. The first looked into schools’ emergency operations plans and if they were up to minimum standards, which they found some did not.
