Bill Text: AZ SB1470 | 2025 | Fifty-seventh Legislature 1st Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Graduation; children with disabilities
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-18 - Senate majority caucus: Do pass [SB1470 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2025-SB1470-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: graduation; children with disabilities |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session 2025
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SB 1470 |
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Introduced by Senator Farnsworth
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AN ACT
amending sections 15-241 and 15-764, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to children with disabilities.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 15-241, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-241. School, charter school and school district accountability; annual achievement profiles; classification; letter grade system; profiles; appeals process; failing schools tutoring fund; definition
A. On or before November 1 of each year, the department of education shall compile for each public school and local education agency, and shall recommend to the state board of education, an annual achievement profile that consists of an educational dashboard that reflects the achievement for each public school and local education agency on the academic and educational performance indicators prescribed in subsection D of this section, except that a career technical education district may not be assigned a letter grade pursuant to this section. The department shall provide any technical assistance needed by the state board to make final adoption of the annual achievement profile.
B. Each school, charter holder and school district shall submit to the department of education any data that is required and requested and that is necessary to compile the achievement profile. A school or local education agency that fails to submit the information that is necessary is not eligible to receive monies from the classroom site fund established by section 15-977.
C. The annual achievement profile compiled by the department of education and recommended to the state board of education shall be used to determine a standard measurement of acceptable academic progress for each school and local education agency and a school and local education agency classification pursuant to subsection G of this section. Any disclosure of educational records compiled by the department pursuant to this section shall comply with the family educational rights and privacy act of 1974 (20 United States Code section 1232g).
D. The annual achievement profile for schools and local education agencies shall include, at a minimum, the following academic and educational performance indicators:
1. Multiple measures of academic performance or other academically relevant indicators of school quality that are appropriate to assess the educational impact of a school during the academic year as determined by the state board of education.
2. Academic progress on assessments adopted pursuant to sections 15-741 and 15-741.02 in English language arts and mathematics.
3. Academic progress on the English language learner assessments administered pursuant to section 15-756, subsection B and section 15-756.05.
4. Progress toward college and career readiness for all schools and local education agencies that offer instruction in any of grades nine through twelve.
5. Academic progress on assessments administered pursuant to section 15-741.02.
6. Multiple measures of educational performance or other relevant indicators of school quality that assess a school's educational impact, such as:
(a) Graduation rates. and For the purposes of this subdivision, the school accountability system that is adopted by the state board of education shall give a child with a disability as defined in section 15-761 who graduates in a fifth, sixth or seventh year cohort shall be the same weight as a student who graduates in a fourth year cohort.
(b) Attendance rates.
E. If neither the school nor the school district meets the minimum student count as recommended by the department of education and approved by the state board of education for any of the performance indicators prescribed in subsection D of this section, the performance indicator shall not be factored into the letter grade assigned pursuant to this section.
F. Subject to final adoption by the state board of education, the department of education shall determine the criteria for each school and local education agency classification on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile prescribed in subsection D of this section using a researched-based research-based methodology and shall recommend to the state board for final adoption the criteria for each school and local education agency classification. The department shall develop the methodology in collaboration with a coalition of qualified technical and policy stakeholders appointed by the state board. The department shall provide technical assistance and, on request, student or statewide performance indicator data needed to determine and calculate the methodology and final letter grades. At a minimum, the methodology shall include the performance of pupils at all achievement levels, account for pupil mobility, account for the distribution of pupil achievement at each school and local education agency and include longitudinal indicators of academic performance. For the purposes of this subsection, "researched-based research-based methodology" means the systematic and objective application of statistical and quantitative research principles to calculate the indicators used to determine A through F letter grades.
G. The annual achievement profile shall use classifications based on an A through F letter grade system adopted by the state board of education in which a letter grade of A reflects an excellent level of performance and a letter grade of F reflects a failing level of performance. The A through F letter grade system shall be applied to each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile prescribed in subsection D of this section, and the state board shall assign an overall letter grade for the public school or local education agency. The A through F letter grade system shall indicate expected standards of performance for all schools on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile prescribed in subsection D of this section and the manner in which schools may rise above or fall below those expected standards of performance. The state board may also assign a school a letter grade of F on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile prescribed in subsection D of this section if the state board determines that the school is among the persistently lowest-achieving schools in the state on the majority of the performance indicators of the annual achievement profile under the federal school accountability requirements pursuant to section 1003(g) of the elementary and secondary education act (20 United States Code section 6303).
H. The classification on each performance indicator of the annual achievement profile for each school and the criteria used to determine classification pursuant to subsections F and G of this section shall be included on the school report card prescribed in section 15-746.
I. Subject to final adoption by the state board of education, the department of education shall use achievement profiles appropriately to assess the educational impact of accommodation schools, alternative schools and extremely small schools, may develop profiles for schools that participate in the board examination system prescribed in chapter 7, article 6 of this title and schools that participate in Arizona online instruction pursuant to section 15-808 and may develop other exceptions as prescribed by the state board for the purposes of this section.
J. The department of education shall establish a process, including a deadline for when requests must be submitted, for a school or local education agency to correct student data used to determine the school's or local education agency's annual achievement profile. If a correction to student data is required, the department shall notify the school or local education agency of the data correction process and shall annually process student data correction requests. The state board of education shall establish an appeals process to allow a school or local education agency to appeal the school's or local education agency's final letter grade, or a letter grade applied to a performance indicator prescribed in subsection D of this section, based on mitigating factors, including achievement profile designations based on incorrect data, identified by the department.
K. The failing schools tutoring fund is established consisting of monies collected pursuant to section 42-5029, subsection E and section 42-5029.02, subsection A, paragraph 8 as designated for this purpose. The department of education shall administer the fund. The department may use monies from the fund to purchase materials designed to assist students to meet the Arizona academic standards and to achieve a passing score on assessments adopted by the state board of education.
L. For the purposes of this section, "academic progress" means measures of both proficiency and academic gain.
Sec. 2. Section 15-764, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-764. Powers and duties of the school district governing board or county school superintendent
A. The governing board of each school district or the county school superintendent shall:
1. Provide special education and related services for all children with disabilities and make such programs and services available to all eligible children with disabilities who are at least three years but less than twenty-two years of age, except that a person who is being provided special education services at the time the person reaches twenty-two years of age shall continue to receive special education services from that school district until the end of that school year. an individualized education program team may determine that a student may benefit from special education and related services, including transition planning and transition services, until the end of the school year in which the student reaches twenty-two years of age. The governing board of a school district or the county school superintendent may not require a student to graduate from high school before the graduation date that is determined by the student's individualized education program team. The department may not impose a penalty against a school or withhold funding from a school for providing special education and related services pursuant to this paragraph to a high school student for more than four years if the student's individualized education program extends the student's graduation from high school beyond four years.
2. Employ supportive special personnel, which may include a director of special education, for the operation of special school programs and services for exceptional children.
3. To the extent appropriate, educate children with disabilities in the regular education classes. Special classes, separate schooling or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment shall occur only if, and to the extent that, the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes, even with the use of supplementary aids and services, cannot be accomplished satisfactorily.
4. Provide necessary specialized transportation in connection with any educational program, class or service as required by the pupil's individualized education program.
5. Establish a policy with regard to allowable pupil-teacher ratios and pupil-staff ratios within the school district or county for provision of special education services.
B. The special education programs and services established pursuant to this section and section 15-765 shall be conducted only in a school facility which that houses regular education classes or in other facilities approved by the division of special education.
C. The governing body of each school district, county or agency involved in intergovernmental agreements, in cooperation with another school district or districts, may establish special education programs for exceptional children. When two or more governing bodies determine to carry out by joint agreement the duties in regard to the special education programs for exceptional children, the governing bodies, in accordance with state law and the rules of the division of special education, shall establish a written agreement for the provision of services. In such agreements, one governing body of each school district, an agency involved in intergovernmental agreements or the county shall administer the program in accordance with the contract agreement between the school districts. Tuition students may be included in the agreement. The agreement may also include lease-purchase of facilities for the special education programs for exceptional children.
D. The county school superintendent, upon on approval of the division of special education, may establish special education programs in the county accommodation schools under the jurisdiction of the superintendent or may cooperate with other school districts by agreement to provide such services for such special programs in accordance with the rules of the division of special education. At the beginning of each school year, the county school superintendent shall present an estimate of the current year's accommodation school exceptional programs tuition cost to each school district that has signed an agreement to use the services of the accommodation school. The tuition shall be the estimated per capita cost based on the number of pupils that each school district has estimated will enroll in the program, and the school district shall pay the tuition quarterly in advance on July 1, October 1, January 1 and April 1. Increases in enrollment during the school year over the school district's estimate of July 1 shall cause the tuition charges to be adjusted accordingly. In the event of overpayment by the school district of residence, the necessary adjustment shall be made at the close of the school year.
