HB2538 - 561R

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

Section 1. Section 15-249.06, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-249.06. College credit by examination incentive program; incentive bonuses; reporting requirements; college credit by examination development fund

A. The college credit by examination incentive program is established within the department of education to provide an incentive bonus to teachers, school districts and charter schools for students who:

1. Obtain a passing score on a qualifying examination for college credit while in high school.

2. Receive a passing grade in a live, remote instruction course offered pursuant to section 15-901.04 if the course provides the relevant instruction for a student to obtain a passing score on a qualifying examination for college credit while in high school.

B. The Arizona board of regents shall maintain a list of qualifying examinations that a high school student may take in order to receive college credit in mathematics, English language arts, social studies or science from any university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents and the passing scores required on those examinations in order to receive college credit. On or before September 1 of each year, the Arizona board of regents shall provide the list of qualifying examinations and passing scores to the department of education and shall submit this list to the joint legislative budget committee.

C. Beginning in fiscal year 2017-2018, the department of education shall pay an incentive bonus to school districts and charter schools for each student in grades nine through twelve who receives a passing score during the previous fiscal year on a qualifying examination identified by the Arizona board of regents pursuant to subsection B of this section. A student who receives a passing score on a qualifying examination and who is enrolled in a school where fifty percent or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches shall generate for the school or charter school a bonus of $450 per passing score on a qualifying examination. A student who receives a passing score on a qualifying examination and who is enrolled in a school where less than fifty percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches shall generate for the school or charter school a bonus of $300 per passing score on a qualifying examination. If the statewide sum of per student bonuses awarded pursuant to this subsection exceeds the amount of available monies appropriated for incentive bonuses, the bonus monies shall be reduced proportionally to cover all eligible bonus awards.

D. Beginning in fiscal year 2023-2024, the department of education shall pay an incentive bonus of $500 for each remote student who receives a passing grade in a live, remote instruction course that provides the relevant instruction for a qualifying examination identified by the Arizona board of regents pursuant to subsection B of this section, subject to the following:

1. The incentive bonus established in this subsection shall be paid to the school district or charter school that acts as an instructional services provider for the live, remote instruction course or courses.

2. A school district or charter school may not receive an incentive bonus pursuant to this subsection if fewer than ten remote students receive a passing grade in the course or courses.

3. If the statewide sum of per student bonuses awarded pursuant to this subsection exceeds the amount of available monies appropriated for incentive bonuses, the bonus monies shall be reduced proportionally to cover all eligible bonus awards.

D. E. A school district or charter school that receives an incentive bonus pursuant to this section shall distribute at least fifty percent of the bonus monies to the associated classroom teacher for each student who receives a passing grade in a live, remote instruction course or passes a qualifying examination and to other teachers of relevant subjects who instructed that student, including teachers in the same department or subject matter that contributed to the student receiving a passing grade in the course or passing the examination, as identified by the school district governing board, the charter school governing body or the school principal. Bonus monies awarded to a teacher pursuant to this subsection are in addition to any regular wage, compensation or other bonus the teacher receives or is scheduled to receive and shall be provided to the teacher by the end of the school year or not later than thirty days after the end of the school year. The remainder of any bonus monies received by a school district or charter school shall be allocated by the school principal on behalf of students who receive a passing grade in a live, remote instruction course or receive a passing score and may be used for teacher professional development or student instructional support, reimbursement of examination fees or instructional materials. Any bonus monies received by a school district or charter school pursuant to this subsection shall be separately accounted for in the school district's or charter school's annual financial report.

E. F. Incentive bonuses distributed to and any bonus monies received by a school district or charter school pursuant to this section are not subject to collective bargaining.

F. G. Payments made by the department of education pursuant to this section shall be distributed to schools not later than March 1 of each year. School districts and charter schools may appeal the allocation of bonus monies not later than August 1 of each year. The department may withhold up to $10,000 of the monies appropriated for the purposes of this section to address allocation appeals by school districts and charter schools.

G. H. On or before December 15, 2018 and on or before December 15 of each year thereafter, the department of education shall submit to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the governor, the secretary of state, and the joint legislative budget committee, a report on all of the following:

1. The number of students who took a qualifying examination at each school.

2. The number of students who received a passing score on a qualifying examination and the number of incentive bonus awards distributed pursuant to subsection C of this section.

3. The number and types of qualifying examinations taken by students.

4. The number of students who receive a passing grade in a live, remote instruction course that provides the relevant instruction for a qualifying examination at each school.

5. The number and types of live, remote instruction courses for which bonus awards are distributed.

4. 5. The amount of bonus monies received by each school pursuant to subsection C of this section.

6. The amount of bonus monies received by each school pursuant to subsection D of this section.

H. I. Incentive bonuses distributed to and any bonus monies received by a teacher are not compensation as defined in section 38-711.

I. J. The college credit by examination development fund is established consisting of monies that are appropriated to the department of education for the purposes of this section but that are not distributed by the end of the fiscal year in which the monies are appropriated. The department shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated and are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations. The department shall distribute monies in the fund to schools in which fifty percent or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches to assist those schools in developing and operating classes that offer qualifying examinations pursuant to this section. The department shall prioritize distributions from the fund based on need. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Title 15, chapter 9, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-901.04, to read:

START_STATUTE15-901.04. Live, remote instructional courses; funding; incentive bonuses; definition

A. Pursuant to a written agreement with a services provider, a school district or charter school may offer a live, remote instructional course or courses for its own students in any of grades nine through twelve.

B. A school district or charter school that offers a live, remote instructional course pursuant to subsection A of this section generates average daily membership as prescribed in section 15-901 for each of its own students who participate in the course. A Services provider described in this section may not generate average daily membership for remote students.

C. A services provider Shall pay the instructor of the live, remote instructional course a stipend in an amount of at least twenty-five percent of the contractual amount of per-course, per-student monies.

D. A school district or charter school that offers a live, remote instructional course pursuant to subsection A of this section shall:

1. Provide an in-person teacher or instructional aide for each live, remote instructional course.

2. Ensure that its own students who participate in a live, remote instructional course satisfy the instructional time and instructional hours requirements prescribed in section 15-901.

3. Provide administrative functions for its own students who participate in a live, remote instructional course, including recording each student's participation in a live, remote instructional course on the student's transcript and tracking progress for graduation requirements.

E. If a live, remote instructional course provides the relevant instruction for a qualifying examination for college credit as prescribed in section 15-249.06, the services provider shall receive any incentive bonuses provided under section 15-249.06.

F. For the purposes of this section, "services provider" means a school district or charter school in this state that provides live, remote instructional courses to both:

1. Remote students pursuant to a written agreement with the school district or charter school in which the remote students are enrolled.

2. Students who are enrolled in a school operated by the services provider.END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 15-901.08, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-901.08. School year; school month; instructional time models; requirements; funding; definition

A. Except as may be otherwise authorized by the superintendent of public instruction to accommodate a year-round school operation or as otherwise prescribed under an instructional time model adopted pursuant to this section, the school year begins July 1 and ends June 30, and a school month is twenty school days or four weeks of five days each.

B. Notwithstanding any other law, for the purposes of meeting the instructional time and instructional hours requirements prescribed in sections 15-797, 15-808 and 15-901, a school district governing board, after at least two public hearings in the school district, or a charter school governing body for one or more schools may adopt any instructional time models as prescribed in this section to meet the minimum annual instructional time and instructional hours requirements prescribed in sections 15-797, 15-808 and 15-901 for all of the following purposes:

1. Determining average daily membership.

2. Determining daily attendance.

3. Determining student count.

4. Any other purpose relating to instructional time or instructional hours prescribed in section 15-797, 15-808 or 15-901.

C. Notwithstanding any other law, all of the following apply to an instructional time model adopted by a school district governing board or charter school governing body for one or more schools pursuant to this section:

1. Students shall receive the minimum instructional time or instructional hours required under section 15-797, 15-808 or 15-901, as applicable, for the full school year in any day, week and course length increments adopted by the school district governing board or charter school governing body.

2. A school may deliver the annual required instructional time or instructional hours to students through any combination of the following:

(a) Direct instruction.

(b) Project-based learning.

(d) Mastery-based learning, which may be delivered in a blended classroom serving multiple grade levels or providing blended grade level content.

3. A school may define instructional time and instructional hours to include any combination of the following:

(a) In-person instruction.

(b) Remote instruction, subject to all of the following:

(i) During school year 2021-2022, a school may provide up to fifty percent of its total instructional time in a remote setting without any impact to the school's funding. Beginning in school year 2022-2023 and each school year thereafter, a school may provide up to forty percent of its total instructional time in a remote setting without any impact to the school's funding. The threshold prescribed in this item does not apply to live, remote instruction courses offered pursuant to section 15–901.04.

(ii) If a school provides instructional time in a remote setting beyond the threshold prescribed in item (i) of this subdivision in any school year, the department of education shall calculate funding as prescribed in subsection D of this section.

(iii) The department of education shall annually provide a list of schools that provide more than the allowed instructional time in a remote setting to the state board of education. The state board of education shall determine whether the school must apply to become an online school under section 15-808.

(iv) The department of education shall annually provide a list of charter schools that provide more than the allowed instructional time in a remote setting to the state board for charter schools. The state board for charter schools shall determine whether the charter school must apply to become an online school under section 15-808.

4. A school may reallocate any minimum instructional time or instructional hours per course required under section 15-797, 15-808 or 15-901 or any other statute to other courses on a per-student basis so that students are able to spend more of their required instructional time or instructional hours on courses of greater depth or courses that require additional learning time to catch up to grade level or to stay on pace.

5. A school may stagger learning times and schedules for students and may offer courses and other instructional time options on the weekend or in the evenings so that all students are not expected to attend or complete their school day or instructional time at the same time.

6. A school shall align its attendance policies to reflect the instructional time and instructional hours policies prescribed under the adopted instructional time model.

D. If a school provides remote instructional time beyond the threshold prescribed in subsection C, paragraph 3, subdivision (b), item (i) of this section in any school year, the department of education shall calculate funding as follows:

1. Calculate the total percentage of instructional time provided by the school in a remote setting.

2. Subtract the allowable threshold prescribed in subsection C, paragraph 3, subdivision (b), item (i) of this section from the amount calculated pursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection.

3. Fund the percentage of the base support level equal to the percentage calculated in paragraph 2 of this subsection at ninety-five percent of the base support level that would otherwise be calculated for the school.

E. For the purposes of this section, "mastery-based learning" means a system in which students advance to higher levels of learning when they demonstrate mastery of concepts and skills regardless of time, place or pace. END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Appropriation; department of education; incentive bonuses

The sum of $_____ is appropriated from the state general fund in fiscal year 2023-2024 to the department of education for the purposes prescribed in section 15-249.06, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by this act.