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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fifth Legislature, Second Regular Session
school districts; protesting; partisan elections
Purpose
Prohibits a school district from ejecting or taking adverse action against persons engaging in peaceful protesting after school hours or requiring an authorization to engage in peaceful protesting after school hours. Requires school district governing board (governing board) elections held on January 1, 2023, or later to be partisan elections conducted using a partisan primary election followed by a general election.
Background
Statute requires a governing board to conduct regular meetings at least once a month during the regular school year at the most convenient public facility in the school district. If there is no public facility available in the district, the governing board may meet at a public facility convenient to all members, regardless of where the facility is located (A.R.S. § 15-321).
A governing board consists of three or five members who are elected without a political party designation at a general election. Members are elected to four-year terms, with certain exceptions. A person seeking to fill a governing board vacancy must: 1) be a registered Arizona voter who has been a resident of the school district for at least one year; and 2) file nominating petitions with the county school superintendent with signatures of qualified electors in a number based on the district's population (A.R.S. §§ 15-421; 15-422; 15-424; and 16-502).
To appear on a
general election ballot for a partisan office, a candidate must either: 1) win
a recognized political party's primary election; or 2) be an independent
candidate nominated by filing the requisite number of nomination petition
signatures with the filing officer
(EPM
Ch. 6 (I)(A)). A county board of supervisors, except for municipal
elections, must prepare and provide ballots for a general election in the form prescribed
by statute and including specified information and instructions. Ballots must
include the partisan ballot in the first section and the nonpartisan ballot in
the second section (A.R.S. §§ 16-502
and 16-503).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Prohibits a school district from:
a) ejecting persons engaging in peaceful protesting after school hours from school property or from the vicinity of any other location where a governing board or school-related meeting is taking place; or
b) taking other adverse action against persons engaging in peaceful protesting after school hours.
2. Prohibits a school district from requiring persons to apply, request a permit or secure any form of authorization to engage in peaceful protesting:
a) on school property after school hours; or
b) in the vicinity of any other location where a governing board or school-related meeting is taking place after school hours.
3. Requires all governing board member elections held in Arizona on January 1, 2023, or later to be conducted using a partisan primary election followed by a general election as otherwise prescribed by law and in substantially similar form to countywide or statewide elections.
4. Requires nomination petitions for a governing board to be partisan.
5. Requires a governing board candidate's name to appear with, rather than without, the candidate's partisan designation.
6. Requires governing board candidates to be placed in the partisan section of the ballot between county offices and precinct offices, rather than in the nonpartisan section of the ballot.
7. Specifies that the act of peaceful protesting after school hours at the following locations does not constitute a violation of the prohibition on interfering with or disrupting an educational institution:
a) on school property; or
b) in the vicinity of a location where a governing board or school-related meeting is taking place.
8. Defines peaceful protesting as protesting characterized by:
a) not posing an obvious threat to persons;
b) not damaging property; and
c) not interfering with or disrupting activities on school property or in the vicinity of a location where a governing board meeting or other school-related meeting is taking place.
9. Makes technical and conforming changes.
10. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
January 21, 2022
LB/slp