SB1400 - 561R

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

Section 1. Section 15-1410, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-1410. Credit and noncredit courses

A. Courses A course that is offered for credit shall satisfy at least one of the following purposes and requirements:

1. Credit courses shall Satisfy one or more of the following purposes:

(a) Qualify students for a community college certificate or degree.

(b) Be acceptable for transfer to a regionally accredited public or private college or university.

(d) Improve the student's job skills or prepare the student for promotion in fields of employment.

(e) Provide skills necessary for success in other college courses.

(f) Provide continuing education and lifelong learning.

2. A credit course shall Satisfy all of the following requirements:

(a) Have a formal course outline that defines the objectives and content of the course on file and available for audit.

(b) Evaluate and grade students based on their mastery of the objectives and content of the course.

(c) Require faculty teaching the course to meet the standards set by the district to teach in the subject area of the course.

(d) Base the credits credit hours or contact hours awarded for completion of the course on the effort required of, and the competencies gained by, the students in accordance with policies adopted by the district governing board.

(e) Require students, before enrollment in the course, to achieve prerequisite competencies as defined in the syllabus or approved course guidelines.

(f) Be developed using the district's formal curriculum review procedure.

(g) Have an evaluation component, the results of which are used for the purposes of formative and summative evaluation by the institution.

(h) Meet other requirements adopted pursuant to district governing board policies, including national standardized examinations and credit by evaluation or examination.

B. A noncredit workforce training or career and technical education course that meets the criteria established in subsection A of this section and that is offered for contact hours instead of credit hours shall satisfy one or more of the following:

1. Be consistent with the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, as amended by the strengthening career and technical education for the 21st century act.

2. Be included on the eligible training provider list maintained pursuant to the workforce innovation and opportunity act.

3. Be requested by a business or industry.

B. C. Noncredit courses are Courses that do not meet the criteria established in subsection A or B of this section. Noncredit courses are the financial responsibility of the district.

C. D. A community college under the jurisdiction of a community college district governing board may not offer a course with a prerequisite for enrollment that requires a student to be a member of a labor organization, a trade organization, or a trade guild or to participate in an industry apprenticeship program. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 15-1466.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-1466.01. Calculation of full-time equivalent student enrollment; report; definition

A. In determining state aid under sections 15-1464 and 15-1466, the number of full-time equivalent students shall be calculated in the following manner:

1. For the basic actual full-time equivalent student enrollment, add the number of full-time equivalent students enrolled as of forty-five days after classes begin in the fall semester to the number of full-time equivalent students enrolled as of forty-five days after classes begin in the spring semester, not including additional short-term classes, and divide the sum by two.

2. For the additional short-term and open entry, open exit full-time equivalent student enrollments:

(a) Determine the total number of credit units for students enrolled in additional short-term and open entry, open exit classes for the fiscal year.

(b) Determine the total number of credit units for students who have completed the additional short-term and open entry, open exit classes for the fiscal year. Any student who has not completed the class by June 30 of each fiscal year shall is not be eligible to be counted for state aid purposes until the following year.

(d) Divide the amount determined in subdivision (c) of this paragraph by two.

(e) Divide the quotient obtained in subdivision (d) of this paragraph by thirty.

(f) The result in subdivision (e) of this paragraph is the additional short-term and open entry, open exit full-time equivalent student enrollments for the fiscal year.

3. For the skill center, and adult basic education courses and noncredit workforce training full-time equivalent student enrollment, divide by six hundred forty the total class attended clock hours or contact hours of persons who complete vocational training. Any student who does not complete vocational training programs by June 30 of each fiscal year shall is not be eligible to be counted for state aid purposes until the following year.

4. The total of basic actual, additional short-term and open entry, open exit, and skill center and noncredit workforce training full-time equivalent student enrollment shall be the basis of providing state aid.

5. For a student who takes a course for which credit is awarded by both a community college and a high school, in which the instructor is an employee of the high school and in which the class is being taught on the high school campus during the normal high school operating hours, the amount of state aid that the community college would otherwise receive for that student shall be reduced by fifty percent.

B. For the purposes of calculating the district expenditure limitation prescribed in article IX, section 21, Constitution of Arizona, and pursuant to section 41-563, the number of full-time equivalent students shall be calculated in the following manner:

1. Determine the total of basic actual, additional short-term and open entry, open exit, and skill center and noncredit workforce training full-time equivalent students as prescribed in subsection A of this section.

2. Determine the number of full-time equivalent students included in paragraph 1 of this subsection who were enrolled in career and technical education courses that have been approved by the department of education in accordance with the Carl D. Perkins career and technical education improvement act of 2006, as amended by the strengthening career and technical education for the 21st century act.

3. Multiply the amount determined in paragraph 2 of this subsection by 0.3.

4. Add the amounts in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this subsection. This sum is the full-time equivalent student enrollment for the purpose of the district expenditure limitation.

C. The full-time equivalent student enrollment reported by each district for all basic actual, additional short-term and open entry, open exit classes, and skill center and adult basic education courses and noncredit workforce training courses pursuant to subsection A of this section shall be audited annually by the auditor general. The auditor general shall audit separately any full-time equivalent student enrollment in which a student is enrolled in a course for both high school and college credit simultaneously, except for credit received at a private college or a college that is owned, operated or chartered by an Indian tribe, taking into consideration any relevant law, regulation or rule. Beginning with the audit for the year ending June 30, 2016, The auditor general shall audit separately the calculation of full-time equivalent student enrollment in subsection B of this section for the purpose of the expenditure limitation for use pursuant to section 41-563. The auditor general shall report the results of the audit to the staffs of the joint legislative budget committee, the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting and the economic estimates commission on or before October 15 of each year.

D. Pursuant to section 15-1445, paragraph 4, a community college district may submit to the economic estimates commission one of the following estimates of full-time equivalent student enrollment:

1. The most recent audited full-time equivalent student enrollment count calculated pursuant to subsection B of this section.

2. The average of the five most recent audited full-time equivalent student enrollment counts calculated pursuant to subsection B of this section.

3. A full-time equivalent student enrollment count that exceeds the most recent audited full-time equivalent student enrollment count calculated pursuant to subsection B of this section by up to five percent if the actual full-time equivalent student enrollment count as of forty-five days after classes begin in the current fall semester exceeds the actual full-time equivalent student enrollment count as of forty-five days after classes began in the fall semester of the previous year.

E. for the purposes of this section, "noncredit workforce training" means a noncredit workforce training or career and technical education course described in section 15-1410, subsection B. END_STATUTE