ARIZONA STATE SENATE

RESEARCH STAFF

 

STACEY A. MORLEY

LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST

EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY &

REFORM COMMITTEE

Telephone: (602) 926-3171

Facsimile: (602) 926-3833

 

TO:                  SENATOR JOHN HUPPENTHAL

                       

DATE:                        June 29, 2009

 

SUBJECT:      House Changes to S.B. 1196 – education; meetings; technical correction

                        (NOW:  education omnibus)

________________________________________________________________________________                                                                                                                                                           

 

Purpose

 

            Makes numerous changes regarding public education relating to state agencies, fingerprinting requirements, retirement benefits, academic receivership, charter schools, school districts, Arizona Online Instruction, parental information requests and technical and conforming changes to update Title 15.

 

House Changes

 

            The House amended S.B. 1196 to include the following provisions:

 

Parental Information Requests

 

1.      Requires parents to submit a written request for information regarding their child’s educational records, curriculum and learning material to the school principal or the superintendent of the school district during regular business hours.

 

2.      States the principal or superintendent must either deliver the requested information or a written explanation for the denial.

 

3.      Permits a parent to submit a written request for the information to the school district governing board if the initial request was denied or not received within 15 days of the original request.

 

4.      Requires the school district governing board to consider a written request for information at the next scheduled public meeting if the request was included in time to be properly noticed on the agenda.

 

Arizona Online Instruction

 

5.      Renames the Technology Assisted Project Based Instruction (TAPBI) program to the Arizona Online Instruction (AOI).

 

6.      Stipulates each new school participates on probationary status.

 

7.      Permits a school to apply for removal from probationary status after demonstrating the academic integrity of its program through the improvement in student academic achievement.

8.      Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) or the State Board for Charter Schools (SBCS) to remove probationary from the program if the school fails to demonstrate improvement in student academic achievement within three years.

 

9.      Eliminates the cap on the number of school districts and charter schools authorized to participate in AOI and requires the SBE or SBCS to approve new participants.

 

10.  Removes the enrollment cap for AOI and requires all enrolled students be Arizona residents.

 

11.  Removes existing annual reporting requirements and instructs the SBE and SBCS to develop annual reporting mechanisms for participating schools. Reporting requirements in effect for existing schools only in FY 2009-2010.

 

12.  Stipulates the percentage of average daily membership (ADM) used to calculate funding for participating students as 95 percent for full-time students and 85 percent for part-time students and specifies how to determine the ADM for AOI students, as follows:

a)      Stipulates students do not incur absences for the purposes of determining ADM and can generate ADM at any time during a fiscal year.

b)      Determines ADM by dividing the reported instructional hours by the applicable hour requirements for each grade.

c)      Requires high school students to be enrolled five hours a day for 180 school days, or the equivalent, in order to be considered a full-time student.

 

13.  Directs AOI to include multiple diverse assessment measures and to proctor the administration of required assessments

 

14.  Defines “enrolled part-time” and “enrolled full-time.”

 

15.  Makes technical and conforming changes related to expanding the current pilot program statewide.

 

Academic Receivership

 

16.  Clarifies that the appointed manager has authority to hire or fire the district superintendant.

 

17.  Requires the Alternative Operation Plan to include a timeline and details on how the administration of the school district will transition back to the school district’s governing board.

 

Miscellaneous

 

18.  Clarifies that a charter school board with vacancies may only achieve a quorum with a majority of the remaining members if permitted by their operating agreement.

 

19.  Makes technical and conforming changes.

 

Senate Action                                                             House Action

 

ED                   6/10/09     DPA/SE     5-2-0-0            ED                   6/22/09            DPA    8-0-0-2

3rd Read           6/15/09                        27-0-3-0          3rd Read           6/26/09                        45-6-9-0

 

SM/jas

cc:  All Senators