Pest Management Professionals that apply pesticides to school grounds must be licensed by the state of Arizona. In addition, Arizona has statutes in force that require pre-notifications of some pesticide use in schools. Arizona law, however, does not require schools to implement IPM or have a designated ‘IPM Coordinator’. Under these circumstances, the University of Arizona’s School IPM Program works with schools using two approaches: one uses dedicated pilot schools that voluntarily join our program and commit to implementing an IPM-based program in their schools; the other responds to specific pest issues on a need basis, in any school site statewide. We present data here collected from pilot school districts on both their indoor and outdoor environments. Each school district has different priorities and challenges with respect to IPM, but all pilot schools continued to implement some IPM practices and exhibited a general improvement in pest management or pesticide use reduction. The most significant challenge to implementing IPM in schools is staff turnover and loss of dedicated personnel. Conclusions drawn from this approach indicate that working intensively with selected school districts generates significant improvements in sustained adoption of IPM with availability of dedicated staff. However, without supporting IPM legislation, the sustainability of school IPM programs cannot be ensured.

• Working intensively with selected school districts generates significant improvements in adoption of IPM, provided dedicated, trained staff are available.

• Without supporting IPM legislation, the sustainability of school IPM programs cannot be ensured.

• The most significant challenges to implementing IPM in schools are high staff turnover, loss of dedicated personnel, limited training opportunity and budget constraints.