ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Fifty-seventh Legislature

First Regular Session

Senate: ED DPA 7-0-0-0 | 3rd Read 27-1-2-0

SB 1470: graduation; children with disabilities

Sponsor: Senator Farnsworth, LD 10

Committee on Education

Overview

Prohibits a student from being required to graduate from high school before the graduation date determined by the student's individualized education program (IEP) team if the IEP team determines the student may benefit from special education until the end of the school year in which the student turns 22 years old.

History

A child with a disability is a child between the ages of 3 and 21 who, after being evaluated in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), is found to have a disability and require special education and related services. An IEP is a written statement for each child with a disability developed in accordance with the IDEA by an IEP team. Among other requirements, an IEP must contain a statement of the special education, related services and supplementary aids to be provided (34 C.F.R. §§ 300.8 and 300.320) (A.R.S. § 15-761).

A school district or charter school must provide special education programming to children with disabilities that is commensurate with their abilities and needs. If appropriate to meet the child's needs and to ensure access to general education, specially designed instruction that meets the child's IEP may be delivered in a variety of education settings. A school district governing board (governing board) or county school superintendent must provide special education and related services for all children with disabilities who are between the ages of 3 and 21. A person receiving special education services when they turn 22 years old must continue to receive the services until the end of the school year (A.R.S. §§ 15-763 and 15-764).

The Arizona Department of Education (ADE), subject to final adoption by the State Board of Education, must develop an annual achievement profile for every public school and local education agency (LEA) based on the A-F letter grade system and that includes multiple measures of educational performance or other relevant indicators of school quality, such as graduation or attendance rates (A.R.S. § 15-241).

Provisions

1. Enables an IEP team to determine that a student may benefit from special education and related services until the end of the school year in which the student turns 22 years old. (Sec. 2)

2. Prohibits a governing board or county school superintendent from requiring a student to graduate from high school before the IEP team-determined graduation date. (Sec. 2)

3. Prohibits ADE from penalizing or withholding funding from a school for providing special education and related services to a high school student for more than four years if the student's IEP team extends the student's graduation beyond four years. (Sec. 2)

4. Requires the A-F letter grade system, for the purposes of a school's or LEA's annual achievement profile, to give a child with a disability who graduates in a fifth, sixth or seventh year cohort the same weight as a student who graduates in a fourth year cohort. (Sec. 1)

5. Makes technical changes. (Sec. 1, 2)

8. ---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------

9. SB 1470

10. Initials CH Page 0 Education

11.

12. ---------- DOCUMENT FOOTER ---------