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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
graduation; children with disabilities
Purpose
Authorizes an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team to determine that a student may benefit from special education and services until the end of the school year in which the student turns 22 years old. Prohibits the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) from imposing a penalty or withholding monies from a school for providing special education and services to a high school student for more than four years if the IEP extends the student's graduation date beyond four years.
Background
The federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensures that all children with
disabilities have free, appropriate public education that emphasizes special
education and related services designed to meet the children's unique needs and
prepare them for further education, employment and independent living. A public
school must have an IEP in effect for each child with a qualifying disability
in specified categories. An IEP is a written statement that includes:
1) a child's academic achievement and functional performance and goals; 2) the
services, aids, support and any individual accommodations to be provided; 3)
the projected beginning date of the services and modifications; and 4)
beginning when the child is 16 years old, appropriate postsecondary goals and
the transition services to assist in reaching those goals (20 U.S.C. §§ 1400
and 1414).
A school district governing board or county school superintendent must provide special education and related services for all children with disabilities who are between 3 and 21 years of age. A student who is being provided special education services at the time the student reaches 22 years of age must continue to receive special education services from the school district until the end of the school year (A.R.S. § 15-764).
ADE must
annually recommend to the State Board of Education (SBE) an achievement profile
for each public school and local education agency (LEA) using classifications
based on an A through F letter grade system. The A through F letter grade
system is applied to each performance indicator of the prescribed annual
achievement profile and the SBE must assign an overall letter grade for each
public school or LEA. The annual achievement profile must include, at a
minimum: 1) multiple measures of academic performance or other relevant
indicators of school quality; 2) academic progress on the statewide
assessments; 3) academic progress on the English language learner assessments;
4) progress toward college and career readiness for all schools and LEAs that
offer instruction to grades 9 through 12; 5) academic progress on the menu of
achievement assessments; and 6) multiple measures of educational performance or
other indicators that assess a school's educational impact, such as graduation
and attendance rates (A.R.S.
§ 15-241).
If allowing an IEP team to determine that a student may benefit from special education and services until the student reaches 22 years of age alters the student count for a school, there may be a fiscal impact to the state General Fund.
Provisions
1. Authorizes an IEP team to determine that a student may benefit from special education and related services, including transition planning and transition services, until the end of the school year in which the student reaches 22 years of age.
2. Prohibits a school district governing board or county school superintendent from requiring a student to graduate from high school before the graduation date determined by the student's IEP team.
3. Prohibits ADE from imposing a penalty or withholding monies 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 extends the student's graduation from high school beyond four years.
4. Requires a child with a disability who graduates in a fifth, sixth or seventh year cohort to be given the same weight as a student who graduates in a fourth year cohort in the determination of a school's annual achievement profile.
5. Makes technical and conforming changes.
6. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 9, 2025
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