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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session |
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HB 2169: school districts; board meetings; expenditures
Sponsor: Representative Gress, LD 4
Committee on Education
Overview
Requires a school district governing board (governing board) to hold its meetings in a public facility in the school district and provide the public with online access to meeting materials and minutes as prescribed. Establishes requirements a governing board must follow when considering out-of-state travel for employees or governing board members.
History
Governing board meetings must be held at the most convenient public facility in the school district or, if such a facility is not available, at any available public facility that is convenient to all governing board members, regardless of the county or school district (A.R.S. § 15-321).
Open meeting laws require the meetings of any public body, including a governing board, to be public meetings. Individuals must be allowed to attend and listen to deliberations and proceedings. Schools, school boards, executive boards and municipalities must provide for a sufficient amount of seating for the reasonably anticipated attendance of anybody wishing to attend. Open meeting laws require public bodies to take written minutes or a recording of all meetings, including executive sessions (minutes or recordings must be available three working days after meeting, unless otherwise provided). Statute also requires public bodies to provide public notice of meetings as prescribed (A.R.S. §§ 38-431, 38-431.01 and 38-431.02).
A governing board may allow a superintendent, principal or the superintendent's or principal's representatives to travel for a school purpose by majority vote of the governing board. A governing board may also allow its members or members-elect to travel inside or outside the school district for a school purpose and to receive reimbursement. The governing board must prescribe procedures and amounts for reimbursement of lodging and subsistence expenses, but reimbursement cannot exceed the maximum statutory reimbursement amounts (A.R.S. §§ 15-342 and 38-624).
Provisions
Governing Board Meetings
1. Mandates all meetings of a governing board and the governing board's subcommittees be held at a public facility in the school district, subject to open meeting law requirements. (Sec. 2)
2. Requires a governing board to provide the public with online access to all governing board and subcommittee meeting materials in the same manner as the governing board provides online access to meeting notices. (Sec. 2)
3. Includes, in the meeting materials required to be provided to the public, supplemental materials presented at the meeting or provided to governing board members in preparation for the meeting. (Sec. 2)
4. Directs a governing board to provide the public with online access to the specified meeting materials and governing board and subcommittee meeting minutes for at least five years after the date of the meeting. (Sec. 2)
5. Instructs a governing board for a school district with a student count of more than 5,000 to provide the public with:
a) a live video feed of each governing board meeting; and
b) online access to the video recordings for at least five years after the meeting. (Sec. 2)
Out-of-State Travel
6. Requires a governing board to approve, by majority vote in a public meeting at least one month before the proposed travel and on a per-trip basis, any out-of-state travel for a superintendent, principal, the superintendent's or principal's representatives or governing board members or members-elect. (Sec. 3)
7. Mandates the governing board identify each individual who may travel out of state and estimate the total cost of the proposed travel when considering the proposed out-of-state travel. (Sec. 3)
Miscellaneous
8. Makes technical changes. (Sec. 3)
9. Makes conforming changes. (Sec. 1, 3)
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13. HB 2169
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