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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, First Regular Session
VETOED
AMENDED
school choice; failing schools; notice
Purpose
Establishes the Arizona School Choice Program (Program) within the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to develop a pamphlet and handbook of school choice options, operate a hotline for school choice questions and develop a notification form and letter for school districts and charter schools to send to parents of students enrolled in a school that receives a D or F letter grade.
Background
Arizona students may attend the following public schools: 1) any school in a school district (district school) through open enrollment policies, subject to available capacity; 2) Arizona Online Instruction; and 3) charter schools. For students attending a private school, qualifying students may receive state monies through empowerment scholarship accounts and scholarship assistance may be available through school tuition organizations, which are funded through individual and corporate contributions for which a taxpayer may receive a tax credit (A.R.S. Title 15). The State Board of Education (SBE) must adopt a model format that school districts may use for parental understanding of open enrollment and, subject to available monies, design a public awareness effort relating to school choice options as outlined. (A.R.S. § 15-816.01).
ADE must annually recommend to the SBE an achievement profile for each public school and local education agency using classifications based on an A through F letter grade system. If a school is assigned a D or F letter grade, the school district governing board (governing board) must provide written notification of the classification to each residence within the district school's attendance area and a charter school must notify the parents of the students attending the charter school within 30 days. For a district school or charter school assigned a D letter grade, the governing board or charter holder must develop an improvement plan within 90 days. For a district school assigned an F letter grade, the governing board must evaluate needed changes to the improvement plan and consider plan recommendations within 60 days. For a charter school assigned an F letter grade, the charter school's sponsor must either take action to restore acceptable performance or revoke the charter school's charter (A.R.S. §§ 15-241 and 15-241.02; SBE).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
Arizona School Choice Program
1. Establishes the Program within ADE and directs the Program to develop, implement and maintain a public awareness program designed to:
a) inform the public about a student's ability to choose any Arizona public school;
b) direct the public to informational resources that explain school choice options in Arizona, including a prescribed handbook of school choice options; and
c) instruct the public how to request enrollment for students.
2. Requires the Program to:
a) develop and annually update a handbook of school choice options (school choice handbook) that are available to students in kindergarten programs and grades 1 through 12 (K-12 students);
b) develop and produce single-page informational pamphlets, in both digital and physical formats, designed to educate parents on the school choice options available to K-12 students;
c) develop a failing school notification form and school choice notification letter as prescribed; and
d) operate and maintain a centralized hotline to respond to questions related to school choice.
3. Specifies that ADE's digital school choice informational pamphlet must contain hyperlinks to websites that provide further information.
4. Prescribes the following school choice options for inclusion in the school choice handbook:
a) school open enrollment options;
b) charter schools;
c) Arizona online instruction;
d) Arizona empowerment scholarship accounts;
e) homeschool;
f) educational scholarships or tuition grants issued by student tuition organizations;
g) nonstatutory options, including micro schools and district magnet schools; and
h) other options identified by the Program.
5. Requires ADE to develop a failing school notification form that contains, both in English and Spanish:
a) a notice and explanation of the school's assigned letter grade;
b) an explanation of the data and scores that comprise the letter grade;
c) the average academic proficiency score and average academic growth score that were used to calculate the letter grade;
d) a summary of the developed school improvement plan; and
e) the time and place of any public meeting in which the school's letter grade or improvement plan will be discussed, including the public meeting in which the school improvement plan will be presented.
6. Requires ADE to develop a school choice notification letter that contains the Program's school choice informational pamphlet.
7. Requires the Program to, for the school choice hotline:
a) use multiple forms of communication;
b) make translation services available; and
c) be available to the public in the evenings Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.
8. Requires the SBE and ADE to post the school choice informational pamphlet and school choice handbook in a conspicuous place on their respective websites.
9. Directs the Program to collaborate with:
a) public and private partners to achieve the Program's objectives; and
b) the SBE to provide parents and the public with informational resources developed by the Program.
10. Requires the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to:
a) by December 1, 2024, electronically notify all existing motor vehicle registrants of the school choice options available to K-12 students using the Program's digital school choice informational pamphlet; and
b) electronically or digitally deliver school choice informational pamphlet to a person who moves to Arizona from another state or country and initially registers a motor vehicle in Arizona.
Letter Grade Notifications
11. Expands the information that a charter school or governing board of a district school assigned a D or F letter grade must include in the notification of the classification by requiring the notification to include the prescribed failing school notification form and school choice letter.
12. Extends, from 30 days to 60 days, the time period after a district school or charter school is assigned a D or F letter grade within which the governing board or charter school must provide notification of the classification.
13. Requires a governing board to send a notification of a D or F letter grade to the parent of each student enrolled in the district school, rather than each residence within the school's attendance area.
14. Requires the governing board or charter school governing body of a school assigned a D or F letter grade to:
a) complete the failing school notification form; and
b) submit evidence to ADE of the school's compliance with the notification requirements, including sent receipts and an attestation that the notifications were properly sent.
15. Replaces the requirement for ADE to, at least twice a year, publish in a newspaper of general circulation in each county a list of schools that are assigned an F letter grade, with a requirement for ADE to post the list in a conspicuous location on ADE's website and on all official communication channels, including any social media platform for which ADE has an account.
16. Allows a failing school notification to be delivered electronically if the school district or charter school electronically communicates with the parents of students in the ordinary course of business.
17. Requires any electronic communications sent according to the failing school notification requirements to contain hyperlinks to websites that provide further information.
18. Requires ADE, if a school district or charter school fails to comply with the notification requirements, to suspend Classroom Site Fund distributions to the school district or charter school until ADE receives satisfactory evidence of the school district's or charter school's compliance.
Miscellaneous
19. Makes technical and conforming changes.
20. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee
1. Transfers, from the SBE to ADE, the requirement to develop the failing school notification form.
2. Requires evidence of compliance with the failing school notification requirements to be submitted to ADE, rather than the SBE.
Governor's Veto Message
The Governor indicates in her veto message that H.B. 2539 does not improve the educational outcomes at low performing schools and places an unfunded mandate on ADOT that requires ADOT to carry out tasks it is not equipped to perform.
House Action Senate Action
ED 2/14/23 DP 6-4-0-0 ED 3/22/23 DPA 4-3-0
3rd Read 3/7/23 31-29-0 3rd Read 4/12/23 16-13-1
Final Read 5/15/23 31-27-1-0-1
Vetoed by the Governor on 5/19/23
Prepared by Senate Research
May 23, 2023
LB/MH/slp