House Engrossed

 

 

 

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-third Legislature

Second Regular Session

2018

 

 

HOUSE BILL 2112

 

 

 

AN ACT

 

amending section 15-779.03, Arizona Revised Statutes; appropriating monies; relating to gifted education programs.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 


Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1.  Section 15-779.03, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-779.03.  Additional assistance for gifted programs

A.  School districts that comply with section 15‑779.01 and that submit evidence that all district teachers who have primary responsibility for teaching gifted pupils have obtained or are working toward obtaining the appropriate certification endorsement as required by the state board of education may apply to the department of education for additional funding for gifted programs equal to seventy-five dollars per pupil for four per cent of the district's student count, or two thousand dollars, whichever is more.  As an alternate to the individual district application process, a governing board may request that a county school superintendent apply on its behalf as part of an educational consortium.  The consortium may include school districts in more than one county.  If additional monies are available after funding all eligible school districts or educational consortia, the additional monies shall be used to increase the per pupil amount for each district or educational consortium funded.  If sufficient monies are not available to meet all requests, the state board of education shall determine the allocation of monies based on the comprehensiveness across grade levels, appropriateness to the population being served, utility and demonstrated effectiveness of the scope and sequence and the likelihood of the school district's or educational consortium's proposed program successfully meeting the needs of the gifted pupils.  A school district shall include the monies it receives for gifted programs and services under this section in the special projects section of the budget.

B.  School districts shall conduct evaluation studies of their programs for the gifted and submit information to the department of education regarding the results of their studies.  The department shall develop evaluation guidelines, reporting forms, procedures and timelines.

C.  Monies distributed pursuant to this section shall supplement and not supplant monies from other sources.

D.  In addition to other monies appropriated for this purpose in fiscal year 2018-2019, $2,900,000 shall be appropriated from the general fund to the department of education for additional assistance for gifted programs in fiscal year 2018-2019 and $3,400,000 shall be appropriated from the general fund to the department of education for additional assistance for gifted programs every year thereafter. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2.  Appropriation; department of education; additional assistance for gifted education programs; assessment grants; exemption

A.  In addition to other monies appropriated for this purpose in fiscal year 2018-2019, the sum of $500,000 is appropriated from the state general fund in fiscal year 2018-2019 to the department of education to be used for additional assistance for gifted programs pursuant to section 15‑779.03, Arizona Revised Statutes.

B.  The appropriation made in subsection A of this section is exempt from the provisions of section 35-190, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to lapsing of appropriations.