HB2219 - 501R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Repeal

Section 15-459, Arizona Revised Statutes, is repealed.

Sec. 2. Title 15, chapter 4, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section 15-459, to read:

START_STATUTE15-459. Consolidation of districts

A. No later than ____________, 20__, the county school superintendent of each county shall call an election to consolidate the school districts in that county to no more than six school districts.

B. Notice of the election to determine consolidation of school districts shall be posted in at least three public places in each of the school districts proposed to be consolidated at least twenty‑five days before the election.

C. The county school superintendent shall prepare a report on the proposed boundary changes in a manner similar to that prescribed in section 15‑481, subsection B. The report shall contain the following information:

1. The date of the election.

2. The polling places and times they are open.

3. The full cash value, the assessed valuation and the estimated amount of the primary property taxes and the estimated amount of the secondary property taxes under the proposed boundary changes for each of the following:

(a) An owner occupied residence whose assessed valuation is the average assessed valuation of property classified as class three, as prescribed by section 42-12003 for the current year in the school district.

(b) An owner occupied residence whose assessed valuation is one-half of the assessed valuation of the residence in subdivision (a) of this paragraph.

(c) An owner occupied residence whose assessed valuation is twice the assessed valuation of the residence in subdivision (a) of this paragraph.

(d) A business whose assessed valuation is the average of the assessed valuation of property classified as class one, as prescribed by section 42‑12001, paragraphs 12 and 13 for the current year in the school district.

4. A consolidation plan to include:

(a) The proposed boundary changes.

(b) The impact of the proposed boundary changes, including where pupils will attend school, changes in pupil transportation services, changes in availability of special education services, changes in pupil‑teacher ratio and operational costs.

(c) If subsection K of this section applies to one or more of the existing school districts, a detailed description of desegregation funding and expenses for the resulting school district.

(d) Any other information the county school superintendent deems appropriate to include.

D. Ballots shall be prepared by the county school superintendent, shall be delivered to the inspector at least forty‑eight hours before the opening of the polls as prescribed in section 16‑509 and shall contain the information prescribed in subsection C, paragraph 3 of this section and the following statement: "Consolidation includes the assumption of liability by the resulting school district for all indebtedness of existing school districts or those parts of school districts proposed for consolidation. Do you support consolidation under the specified provisions of the consolidation plan? Yes ( ) No ( )". If the election is to simultaneously consolidate and unify two or more common school districts, the ballot shall state: "Do you support the consolidation of the (insert names of common school districts) and the subsequent unification of the consolidated districts with the (insert name of union high school district) to form one unified school district under the consolidation and unification plan? Yes ( ) No ( )".

E. The county school superintendent shall hold the election on a date prescribed by section 16‑204. The election shall be held in the manner and electors shall possess qualifications as prescribed for the election of governing board members. The results of the election shall be reported to the county school superintendent.

F. The county school superintendent and the chairman of the board of supervisors, on the seventh day after the election, shall canvass the vote. If a majority of the votes cast in the county favor consolidation, the districts in the county are consolidated and become six districts from and after June 30 next following the election.

G. The governing boards shall prepare policies, curricula and budgets for each of the new school districts.

H. If all of the districts to be consolidated have authorization for an override as provided in section 15‑481 that would have continued after the consolidation, the override authorization continues for the new district and expires at the time the earliest override would have expired.

I. If one or more, but not all, of the districts to be consolidated have authorization for an override as provided in section 15‑481 that would have continued after the consolidation, the override authorization shall apply only to the schools included under the terms of the prior override authorization. Consolidation of school districts does not consolidate or pool the liability to be taxed for the override, and only property that was located within the boundaries of the district that approved the override before consolidation is to pay taxes to support the override. This subsection also applies if all of the districts to be consolidated have authorization for overrides, but the authorizations are pursuant to different subsections of section 15‑481 or the override amounts are not the same percentage of the revenue control limit.

J. Notwithstanding section 15‑457, consolidation of school districts does not consolidate or pool the liability of the former school districts into the resulting school district. Outstanding indebtedness incurred by a school district before consolidation shall be repaid without interruption according to existing debt schedules as determined by the county board of supervisors. If a school district consolidates after July 1, 2004, the new school district may pay tuition to the district of attendance when a pupil is precluded by distance or lack of transportation from attending school in the district of a pupil's residence.

K. If one or more of the previously existing school districts were authorized to budget for expenses of complying with or continuing to implement activities that were required or permitted by court order of desegregation or administrative agreement with the United States department of education office for civil rights directed toward remediating alleged or proven racial discrimination pursuant to section 15‑910, this authorization does not expire on the effective date of consolidation but applies only to schools included in the court order or administrative agreement.

L. If one or more of the previously existing school districts were participating in a career ladder program pursuant to chapter 9, article 1.1 of this title before consolidation, notwithstanding any other law the state board shall expedite the processing of and may approve an updated application for program reapproval that incorporates the geographic boundaries of the resulting school district and the inclusion of the additional staff in the career ladder program.

M. If the formation of a new consolidated and unified school district is authorized, the terms of the governing board members of the common and union high school districts do not expire on the effective date of the unification. The governing board members of the previously existing school districts shall serve as provided in section 15‑430, except that the power of the governing board members of the previously existing school districts acting as the governing board of the unified school district is limited to the maintenance and operation of the previously existing school districts and compliance with the consolidation and unification plan. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 15-721, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-721. Common schools; course of study; textbooks; definition

A. The governing board shall approve for common schools the course of study, the basic textbook for each course and all units recommended for credit under each general subject title prior to implementation of the course. Each common school in each county shall use the same textbooks.

B. If any course does not include a basic textbook, the governing board shall approve all supplemental books used in the course prior to approval of the course.

C. If any course includes a basic textbook and uses supplemental books, the governing board may approve all supplemental books and teaching aids, including instructional computer software, that are used in the course prior to approval of the course.

D. If the course includes a basic textbook and uses supplemental books that have not been approved by the governing board at the time of approval of the course, a teacher may use the supplemental books at any time during the school year. Use of the supplemental books shall be brought to the attention of the governing board during the school year in which they are added for ratification.

E. Notwithstanding any other law, subsections B and C do not apply to supplemental books used in courses or programs instituted pursuant to article 4 of this chapter.

F. The governing board shall:

1. Enforce the course of study and select all textbooks used in the common schools and purchase the textbooks from the publishers. District school funds may be budgeted and expended by the governing board for teaching aids, including instructional computer software. For courses that do not require that each student have a textbook other than for classroom instruction, the school district need only purchase one textbook for each student in the largest group that would be receiving classroom instruction at any one time.

2. Require that all meetings of committees authorized for the purposes of textbook review and selection be open to the public as prescribed in title 38, chapter 3, article 3.1.

3. Make available at the school district office for review by the public, for a period of sixty days prior to formal selection of textbooks, a copy of each textbook that is being considered for selection.

G. For the purposes of this section, "textbook" means printed instructional materials or digital content, or both, and related printed or nonprinted instructional materials, that are written and published primarily for use in school instruction and that are required by a state educational agency or a local educational agency for use by pupils in the classroom, including materials that require the availability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning resource. END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 15-722, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE15-722. High schools; course of study; textbooks; definition

A. The governing board shall approve for high schools the course of study, the basic textbook for each course and all units that are recommended for credit under each general subject title prior to implementation of such course. Each high school in each county shall use the same textbooks.

B. If any course does not include a basic textbook, the governing board shall approve all supplemental books that are used in such course prior to usage.

C. If any course includes a basic textbook and uses supplemental books or instructional computer software, the governing board may approve all supplemental books and instructional computer software that are used in such course prior to usage.

D. If the course includes a basic text and uses supplemental books that have not been approved by the governing board at the time of approval of the course, a teacher may use such supplemental books at any time during the school year. Use of such supplemental books shall be brought to the attention of the governing board during the school year in which they are added for ratification.

E. The governing board shall prescribe up to five textbooks for each course and the teacher, with the consent of the governing board, may use any one of the prescribed textbooks for the purposes of the teacher's course.

F. For the purposes of this section, "textbook" means printed instructional materials or digital content, or both, and related printed or nonprinted instructional materials, that are written and published primarily for use in school instruction and that are required by a state educational agency or a local educational agency for use by pupils in the classroom, including materials that require the availability of electronic equipment in order to be used as a learning resource. END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Conforming legislation

The legislative council staff shall prepare proposed legislation conforming the Arizona Revised Statutes to the provisions of this act for consideration in the fiftieth legislature, second regular session.