First Regular Session H.B. 2322
PROPOSED
SENATE AMENDMENTS TO H.B. 2322
(Reference to House engrossed bill)
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert:
"Section 1. Section 15-901.06, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-901.06. Dropout recovery programs; program providers; requirements; written learning plans; annual report; definition
A. Each school district and charter school that provides instruction to high school pupils may offer a dropout recovery program for eligible pupils.
B. The state board of education shall prescribe standards and achievement testing requirements for school districts and charter schools to use when evaluating and selecting potential dropout recovery programs that attempt to ensure that the programs are compatible with public school education goals and requirements program providers. The standards shall require dropout recovery programs program providers to do all of the following:
1. Provide curricula aligned to the academic standards adopted by the state board of education. The curricula may be delivered online. A provider of Arizona online instruction pursuant to section 15-808 may not also operate a dropout recovery program pursuant to this section.
2. Provide standardized tests Require participating school districts and charter schools to administer the assessments required by federal and state law to pupils enrolled in the dropout recovery program if the school district or charter school receives funding for those pupils.
3. Make available appropriate and sufficient supports for pupils, including tutoring, career counseling and college counseling.
4. Provide teachers who hold a valid fingerprint clearance card pursuant to section 15-534 and a current teaching license from any state.
4. 5. Comply with federal and state laws governing pupils with disabilities.
5. 6. Meet state requirements for high school graduation.
C. PARTICIPATING school districts and charter schools and dropout recovery program providers shall Hold active accreditation by a regional accrediting body or a consolidation or successor entity of the regional accrediting body.
D. A school district or charter school shall notify the department of education at least thirty calendar days before the school district or charter school begins to operate a dropout recovery program. A school District or charter school shall include evidence and assurances that the requirements of this section relating to dropout recovery program providers have been met. The department may notify a school district or charter school within this thirty-day notification period if a dropout recovery program provider does not meet the requirements of this section. The department may not prohibit a school district or charter school from operating a dropout recovery program after the thirty-day notification period if the school district or charter school meets the requirements of this section. A school district or charter school that receives notification within the thirty-day notification period that it does not meet the requirements of this section relating to dropout recovery program providers may not operate a dropout recovery program until the school district or charter school provides sufficient evidence to the Department that it meets the requirements of this section relating to dropout recovery program providers.
C. E. The dropout recovery program provider shall report to the school district or charter school on a quarterly basis any recorded contact between an eligible pupil who is enrolled in a dropout recovery program and the pupil's assigned mentor. Each eligible pupil who is enrolled in a dropout recovery program shall have a written learning plan developed by the pupil's assigned mentor. The written learning plan shall include that includes the following elements:
1. The start date and anticipated end date of the plan.
2. Courses and credits to be completed by the pupil during the academic year.
3. Whether courses will be taken sequentially or concurrently.
4. State competency exams to be taken, as necessary.
5. Expectations for satisfactory monthly progress.
6. 5. Expectations for contact with the pupil's assigned mentor.
D. The monthly participation in a dropout recovery program shall be recorded on or before the tenth school day of each month and shall be reported to the department of education at the same time as other data required pursuant to section 15-1042. Monthly participation calculations shall include:
1. Newly enrolled pupils who have a written learning plan on file on or before the first school day of the previous month.
2. Pupils who met the expectations for satisfactory monthly progress in the previous month.
3. Pupils who did not meet the expectations for satisfactory monthly progress in the previous month but did meet the expectations in the month before the previous month.
4. Pupils who met expectations for program reentry in the revised written learning plan in the previous month.
E. Because dropout recovery pupils are not expected to regularly attend classes at the district facilities, standard procedures for recording pupil attendance cannot be effectively applied to those students. For pupils participating in a dropout recovery program, an eligible pupil shall be counted as being in attendance in the school's average daily attendance calculations pursuant to subsection F of this section if the pupil meets one of the following conditions:
1. Is in the first month of enrollment in the program and completes the program orientation during that month.
2. Is enrolled in teacher-facilitated courses and meets the expectations for satisfactory monthly progress for the current or previous month. A pupil who does not meet expectations for monthly progress for two or more consecutive months shall not be reported as being in attendance until the pupil meets the expectations for program reentry.
3. Meets the expectations for program reentry in the revised written learning plan.
F. Notwithstanding any other law, pupils who are enrolled in a dropout recovery program at a school district or charter school shall be funded based on attainment of each one-half unit of high school credit. Notwithstanding any other law, a school district or charter school shall receive 0.1 Average daily membership for Each one-half unit of high school credit that a pupil enrolled in a dropout recovery program at the school district or charter school attains. For the purposes of this subsection, "high school credit" means a high school credit that counts toward the high school graduation requirements prescribed by the state board of education pursuant to section 15-701.01.
F. G. If a pupil is enrolled in a school district or charter school other than the school district or charter school that participates in the dropout recovery program and also participates in a dropout recovery program in the same fiscal year, the average daily membership as prescribed in section 15-901, subsection A, paragraph 1, subdivisions (a) and (b) for that pupil in the school district or charter school and in a dropout recovery program shall not exceed 1.0, except that if the pupil is enrolled in a dropout recovery program and a career technical education district, the average daily membership provisions of section 15-393 apply. If the pupil is enrolled in both a school district or charter school and a dropout recovery program in the same fiscal year and the sum of the average daily membership and average daily attendance for that pupil is greater than 1.0 or the amount prescribed in section 15-393 if the pupil is enrolled in a career technical education district, the sum shall be reduced to 1.0 or to the amount specified in section 15-393 if the pupil is enrolled in a career technical education district and shall be apportioned between the school district or charter school and the career technical education district, if applicable, and the dropout recovery program based on the proportionate shares of average daily membership in the school district or charter school and the average daily attendance membership in the dropout recovery program. The uniform system of financial records shall include guidelines for the apportionment of pupil enrollment and attendance as provided in this subsection. Pupils in a dropout recovery program do not incur absences for the purposes of this subsection and may generate average daily attendance for attendance membership during any hour of the day, during any day of the week and at any time between July 1 and June 30 of each fiscal year. The average daily membership of a pupil shall not exceed 1.0 in any calendar year in which the pupil is participating in any dropout recovery program. The average daily attendance membership of a pupil who participates in a dropout recovery program shall not exceed 1.0 or the amount prescribed in section 15-393 if the pupil is enrolled in a career technical education district, and shall be calculated by fulfilling the requirements of in accordance with subsection E F of this section. Average daily membership shall not be calculated on the one hundredth day of instruction for the purposes of this section.
G. Notwithstanding section 15-901, subsection A, paragraph 1, the average daily membership for pupils enrolled in a dropout recovery program shall equal the average daily attendance of the pupils.
H. School districts and charter schools shall be are responsible for paying to the dropout recovery program provider all tuition charges and fees that are related to pupil participation in a dropout recovery program, including course materials and access to technology for use with online courses.
I. School districts and charter schools may contract with an educational management organization to provide a dropout recovery program. If contracting with an educational management organization, the school district or charter school shall ensure that all of the following requirements are met:
1. The educational management organization is accredited by a regional accrediting body.
2. Teachers provided by the educational management organization hold a current teaching license from any state and a valid Arizona fingerprint clearance card pursuant to section 15-534, and teachers of core subjects are highly qualified in the subjects to which they are assigned.
J. Dropout recovery programs shall be classified as alternative schools and shall be subject to the accountability provisions of section 15-241.
K. I. Entities that are contracted to provide Dropout recovery programs program providers may conduct outreach to encourage pupils who are not currently enrolled in a school district or charter school in this state to return to school. Entities that are contracted to provide Dropout recovery programs shall program providers may not conduct advertising or marketing campaigns directed at pupils who are currently enrolled in a school district or charter school, or undertake any other activity that encourages pupils who are currently enrolled in a school district or charter school to stop attending school in order to qualify for a dropout recovery program. A dropout recovery program provider that violates this subsection may not be paid for pupils who are enrolled in a dropout recovery program administered by that program provider during the time the program provider was in violation of this subsection.
J. To maintain its status as a dropout recovery program provider, a dropout recovery program provider that serves at least thirty pupils in a program year shall maintain a two-year cohort graduation rate of at least fifty percent. The two-year cohort is based on the number of pupils who enter a dropout recovery program with ten or fewer credits needed for graduation. pupils who transfer from the school district's or charter school's dropout recovery program to the school district's or charter school's traditional school program shall be removed from the cohort graduation rate under this section. For the purposes of this subsection, "two-year cohort graduation rate" means the number of pupils who graduate from a dropout recovery program in two years and who entered the dropout recovery program with ten or fewer credits needed for graduation, divided by the number of pupils who form the cohort for the graduating class.
L. K. The department of education shall submit an annual report to the governor, the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives that details the outcomes of dropout recovery programs, including the number of pupils who participate in the programs, the total annual credits earned by pupils who participate in the programs and the number of pupils who participate in the programs and who graduate from high school. The department shall provide a copy of the annual report to the secretary of state. This subsection does not authorize the department to either:
1. Oversee or approve dropout recovery programs.
2. Limit the providers that school districts and charter schools may contract with for dropout recovery programs.
L. A school district or charter school that enrolls a pupil who has been withdrawn from the school district or charter school for fewer than thirty days shall report both of the following to the department of education:
1. The name of the pupil.
2. The reason for the enrollment.
M. For the purposes of this section, :
1. "eligible pupil" means a pupil who, if enrolled, would be eligible for placement in an alternative school but who is not currently enrolled in a school district or charter school and who has been withdrawn from a the school district or charter school during the school year for at least thirty days, unless the school district or charter school determines that the student pupil is unable to participate in other school district or charter school programs before the thirty days.
2. "Satisfactory monthly progress" means an amount of progress that is measurable on a monthly basis and that, if continued for twelve months, would result in the same amount of academic credit being awarded to the pupil as would be awarded to a pupil in a traditional education program who completes a full school year. Satisfactory monthly progress may include a lesser required amount of progress for the first two months that a pupil participates in the program."
Amend title to conform