State SealARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

SB 1254: school district consolidation

PRIME SPONSOR: Senator Allen S, LD 6

BILL STATUS: Chaptered

               

Legend: Amendments – BOLD and Stricken (Committee)

Abstract

☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal NoteRelating to school district consolidations.

Provisions

1.       Permits school district consolidations to include unifying a common school district that is part of a union high school district made up of two or fewer K-8 school districts with that union high school district. (Sec. 1)

2.       Removes the requirement, when consolidating a school district that only finances students who are instructed in another school district with the school district providing instruction, that the governing board of a school district providing the instruction approve the consolidation. (Sec. 1)

3.       Directs K-8 school districts that are not included in the consolidation to become a K-8 district not within a high school district, requires the unified district to admit high school students from the K-8 district that was located within the previous union high school district and instructs the K-8 district to pay tuition for the high school students. (Sec. 1)

4.       Adds a retroactive effective date of December 31, 2017 and repeals the authorization for this type of consolidation on January 1, 2021. (Sec. 2-4)

5.       Makes technical changes.

Current Law

School districts are permitted to consolidate through an election in each school district (A.R.S. § 15-459).  The request to consolidate may be made by two or more governing boards or through a petition by qualified electors in each of the school districts proposing to consolidate.

Allowed consolidations include: a) changing the boundaries of a school district to include any part of an adjacent district, b) consolidating all common school districts within an existing union high school district, c) consolidating adjacent school districts of similar types, d) consolidating a common school district into an adjacent unified district, e) unifying multiple districts into a unified district, and f) changing the boundaries of an A or B school district to include another school district within 20 miles.

 

 

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Fifty-third Legislature                  SB 1254

Second Regular Session                               Version 4: Chaptered

 

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