Bill Text: AZ HB2721 | 2010 | Forty-ninth Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Recovery school district
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-08 - House Committee of the Whole action: Retained on the Calendar [HB2721 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2010-HB2721-Introduced.html
|
REFERENCE TITLE: recovery school district |
|
State of Arizona House of Representatives Forty-ninth Legislature Second Regular Session 2010
|
|
HB 2721 |
|
|
|
Introduced by Representatives Goodale, Court, Crandall: McLain
|
AN ACT
amending Title 15, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 15-108; amending Title 15, chapter 2, article 2, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 15-249; relating to the department of education.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 15, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-108, to read:
15-108. Failed schools; transfer to recovery school district; exceptions; report
A. A school that is in a school district, that is subject to the jurisdiction of a school district governing board and that the state board of education determines to be academically unacceptable shall be designated a failed school.
B. If approved by the state board of education, a failed school shall be removed from the jurisdiction of the school district governing board and transferred to the recovery school district established by section 15‑249 if any of the following occurs:
1. The school district governing board fails to present a plan to restructure the failed school to the state board of education.
2. The school district governing board presents a plan to restructure the failed school that is unacceptable to the state board of education.
3. The school district governing board fails at any time to comply with the terms of the plan to restructure the failed school that was previously approved by the state board of education.
4. The state board of education determines that the school has been academically unacceptable for four consecutive years.
C. The state board of education shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this section, including rules that set forth the criteria and procedures to determine whether schools are academically unacceptable.
D. A failed school shall be reorganized, as necessary, and operated by the Recovery School District as prescribed in this section and section 15‑249 in whatever manner the state board of education and the recovery school district determine to be most likely to bring the school to an acceptable level of academic performance.
E. The recovery school district shall retain jurisdiction over any school transferred to the recovery school district until the state board of education determines that the transferred school is no longer academically unacceptable. When the state board of education determines that a transferred school is no longer academically unacceptable, the state board of education shall enter into an agreement with the school district governing board from which the school was transferred for the school to be transferred back to the jurisdiction of the school district governing board. This agreement shall include all of the following:
1. Details for the operation of the school by the school district governing board, including provisions for the continuation of the programs and reforms instituted by the recovery school district that provided the basis for the school's improved academic performance.
2. Provisions that set forth the employment status of all persons who are currently employed at the school but who were not employed at the school when the school was transferred to the jurisdiction of the recovery school district.
3. Mechanisms and timelines for the transition of the school to the jurisdiction of the school district governing board.
F. Except as provided in subsection g of this section, if a school has been transferred to the jurisdiction of the recovery school district, has been operating pursuant to arrangements established by the recovery school district for four consecutive years and has failed to improve sufficiently to no longer be academically unacceptable, the state board of education shall either:
1. Terminate the operation of the school.
2. Require the recovery school district to terminate the operational arrangement of the school by the recovery school district and provide a different operational arrangement of the school.
3. Return the school to the jurisdiction of the school district governing board from which it was transferred.
G. Subsection F of this section does not apply to either:
1. a school that has been transferred to the recovery school district if the performance of the school as measured by the Arizona instrument to measure standards test or by any other school accountability measurement established pursuant to rules adopted by the state board of education for this purpose has improved by at least twenty per cent during the four-year period that the recovery school district has operated the school.
2. Any subsequent four-year period during which the state board of education determines that the school continues to be academically unacceptable if the performance of the school as measured by the Arizona instrument to measure standards test or by any other school accountability measurement established pursuant to rules adopted by the state board of education for this purpose has improved by at least twenty per cent.
H. At the time of the transfer of a school to the recovery school district, the parent or guardian of any child who is attending the school or who would be assigned to attend the school may either enroll the child in the school or transfer the child to another school that is operated by the school district.
I. The state board of education, in consultation with the recovery school district, shall submit an annual report on or before December 15 to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate and shall provide a copy of this report to the secretary of state. The annual report shall include a listing and a description of the status of each shchool:
1. For which the state board of education has required the development of a plan to restructure the school during the previous year.
2. That has begun operating pursuant to an approved plan to restructure the school during the previous year.
3. That has continued to operate pursuant to an approved plan to restructure the school during the previous year.
4. That has been transferred to the recovery school district during the previous year.
Sec. 2. Title 15, chapter 2, article 2, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-249, to read:
15-249. Recovery school district; governance; operation
A. The recovery school district is established in the department of education to provide an appropriate education for children who are enrolled in a school that was formerly operated by a school district and that has been transferred to the recovery school district. The recovery school district shall be administered by the department of education, subject to the approval of the state board of education.
B. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the recovery school district may:
1. Solicit, obtain, manage, retain and spend federal monies and grant monies in the same manner as a school district established pursuant to section 15‑441.
2. Provide for the supervision, management and operation of a school placed under its jurisdiction.
3. Receive, control and spend local, state and federal monies allocated to or on behalf of a school placed under its jurisdiction in the same manner as a school district governing board established pursuant to section 15‑321.
4. Exercise any other power and authority otherwise granted to the recovery school district by law.
C. The recovery school district shall not:
1. Levy taxes.
2. Contract with any for-profit private provider for the general operation of any school under its jurisdiction, except that the recovery school district may contract with for‑profit providers for specific services that may be needed for a school under its jurisdiction.
D. The recovery school district may require any school district governing board to provide support services for a school transferred from the jurisdiction of the school district governing board, including:
1. Pupil transportation.
2. Food service.
3. Screening and assessment for special education services. The recovery school district shall reimburse the school district governing board for the actual cost of special education services. If a dispute arises between the recovery school district and the school district governing board regarding the amount of the reimbursement for special education services, the superintendent of public instruction shall determine the amount of the reimbursement.
E. The recovery school district shall have unrestricted access to and may use any school building, facility or property on the site of a school that it operates. The recovery school district shall provide routine maintenance and repair of school buildings, facilities and property on the school site. The school district governing board shall retain responsibility for extensive repair to the buildings, facilities and property on the site of the school.
F. The legislature shall annually appropriate sufficient monies to fund schools operated by the recovery school district in an amount equal to the total amount of per pupil funding that each school district governing board would have received for or on behalf of those schools if those schools were still operated by the school district governing board.
G. In addition to amounts appropriated pursuant to this section, a school district governing board shall allocate and transfer to the recovery school district the total amount of per pupil funding from all local, state and federal sources that the school district would have received for or on behalf of a school if that school were still operated by the school district governing board, excluding the following:
1. Monies specifically dedicated by the legislature.
2. Monies approved by the voters of the school district for capital outlay or debt service.
3. Monies provided by the school district or the school facilities board for land acquisition or construction or renovation of school facilities.
H. Except for administrative costs, monies appropriated to the recovery school district that are attributable to the transfer of a school from a school district governing board and monies allocated or transferred from the school district governing board to the recovery school district shall be spent solely on the operation of schools transferred.
I. The recovery school district may employ staff members as it deems necessary.
J. At the time of the transfer of a school to the recovery school district, any certificated teacher who has regular and direct responsibility for providing classroom instruction to pupils and who was employed at the transferred school shall be given priority consideration for employment in the same or a comparable position by the recovery school district.
K. Any person who was employed at the transferred school may choose to remain an employee of the school district from which the school was transferred. The school district governing board shall retain and reassign persons who wish to remain employees of the school district in a manner that is consistent with the school district's contractual obligations or policies regarding the retention and reassignment of employees.
L. The employment benefits and privileges of any person who was employed at a transferred school and who is employed at that same school by the recovery school district shall be equivalent to the employment benefits and privileges required by law for school district employees in this state.
M. Notwithstanding subsection l of this section, any person who was employed at a transferred school and who is employed at the same school by the recovery school district shall not lose any right of certification, retirement or salary status or any other benefit provided by law or by the rules of the school district governing board due to employment at the recovery school district on the person's return to employment at the school district established pursuant to section 15‑441.
N. The employment benefits and privileges of any person who was not employed at a transferred school and who is employed at that school by the recovery school district shall be determined by the recovery school district at the time of such employment in compliance with the requirements of any applicable contract or law.
O. Only pupils who would have been eligible to enroll in or attend the transferred school before the transfer to the recovery school district may enroll in and attend the transferred school, except that the recovery school district may admit additional pupils pursuant to chapter 8, article 1.1 of this title if the recovery school district has sufficient capacity.
P. The recovery school district shall not violate any federal court order, judgment or consent decree.
