SURPRISE, Ariz. — Valley school districts are re-evaluating where money is being spent as federal COVID-19 funding discontinues after the 2023-2024 school year.
The Dysart Unified School District governing board voted to eliminate all social worker positions after the 2023-2024 school year, saying there is not another funding source to keep them off staff after Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding runs dry.
Dysart Unified School District received more than $56 million in ESSER funding over three stages, according to the district.
This year, nearly $2 million of the district’s ESSER funding is budgeted for its social workers.
Arizona received more than $2.8 billion in ESSER funding over multiple stages, according to the Arizona Department of Education.
Parents and a student asked the governing board to try to keep some, if not all, social workers at Thursday’s meeting.
“We need more support for our kids,” Eric Sanabria said.
The district has several social workers on campuses, helping students of all ages.
“There’s a lot of things they go through. There’s a lot of issues happening right now in the world that are impacting them,” Sanabria said.
A district spokesperson said there are other mental health specialists available to students.
This district also has 13 school resource officers on campuses.
School safety officers are also utilized on 11 campuses that do not have a school resource officer.
A school safety officer is an off-duty officer not assigned to a specific site, whereas a school resource officer is an on-duty officer assigned to a specific site, according to a district spokesperson.
Parents told 12News they’re happy to have law enforcement on campus, but said students are better served by a combination of trained experts.
“There wouldn’t be that person on campus that really is trained to assess kids and just help them through emotional crises and different things that go on,” Sanabria said.
Social workers will remain on campus through the end of this school year. The new funding structure will take effect at the start of the 2024-2025 school year.