PREFILED JAN 05 2024
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REFERENCE TITLE: special education vouchers; amount |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session 2024
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HB 2144 |
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Introduced by Representative Cook
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An Act
amending section 15-1204, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to special education.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 15-1204, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
15-1204. Voucher; application; approval; requirements; budgets; prohibited uses; advances
A. When an institution decides to place a person in an institutional special education program, the institution, upon on application to and approval by the division of special education, shall have a permanent special education institutional voucher issued pursuant to this article to pay the special education instructional costs of the person at the institution.
B. When an institution decides to place a person who resides in the institution in a school special education program, the school, upon on application to and approval by the division of special education, shall have a permanent special education institutional voucher issued pursuant to this article to pay the special education instructional costs of the person in the school.
C. No A person residing in an institution and attending a school may not have a certificate of educational convenience issued pursuant to section 15-825, subsection A.
D. The director of the division of special education shall develop requirements for the approval of vouchers, pursuant to this section, including the requirement that the person be educationally evaluated.
E. If approved, the voucher, in an amount not exceeding the sum of the following, shall be paid directly to the institution or deposited with the county treasurer to the credit of the school, with notice to the county school superintendent:
1. For group A, the base level multiplied by two.
2. For group B, the sum of the base for kindergarten programs and grades one through eight and the support level weight for the category, multiplied by the base level.
3. For both group A and group B, one hundred dollars $100 for capital outlay costs and fifty dollars $50 for transportation costs.
4. For both group A and group B, if part of a campus-based program, an additional rate of $2.89 per route mile for transportation costs and additional funding for capital outlay costs as follows:
(a) $527.60 for preschool programs for children with disabilities.
(b) $455.60 for kindergarten programs and grades one through eight.
(c) $474.73 for grades nine through twelve.
(d) An amount equal to the student count in grades nine through twelve, multiplied by $81.56 for purchasing required textbooks and related printed subject matter materials.
F. The budget format developed cooperatively between the department of child safety and the department of education pursuant to section 8-503 shall be used by the institutions to determine and segregate residential costs from educational instructional costs.
G. If sufficient appropriated monies are available and upon on a showing by an institution that additional state monies are necessary for current expenses, an advance apportionment of state aid may be paid to an institution. In no event shall An institution have received may not receive more than three-fourths of its total apportionment under this section before May 1 of the fiscal year. Early payments pursuant to this subsection must be approved by the state treasurer, the director of the department of administration and the superintendent of public instruction.
H. Notwithstanding subsection G of this section, when making the April payment to an institution, the department of education may include an additional amount based on an estimate of monies payable to the institution in May. Before the department of education apportions monies to the institution in June, it shall adjust the June payment to account for any discrepancies between the monies actually paid in April and May and the amount which that should have been paid. If an overpayment in May exceeds the total amount payable in June, the institution shall refund to the department of education an amount equal to the overpayment within sixty days of after notification of the overpayment. If the overpayment is not refunded within sixty days by the institution, the superintendent of public instruction shall reduce the state aid entitlement to the institution for the succeeding fiscal year to recover any overpayment of state aid received during the current fiscal year.
I. For fiscal year 2024-2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, Subject to appropriation, the legislature shall increase the amounts provided in subsection E, paragraph 4 of this section by a minimum growth rate of either two percent or the change in the GDP price deflator, as defined in section 41-563, from the second preceding calendar year to the calendar year immediately preceding the budget year, whichever is less, except that the amounts shall not be reduced below the amounts established for fiscal year 2024-2025.
I. J. Any special education institutional voucher issued pursuant to this article shall not be used in any school or institution that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, creed, color or national origin.
J. K. The state board of education may withhold state aid from an institution for noncompliance with any applicable statute or any applicable rule adopted by the state board.