Assigned to K-12 ED & APPROP                                                                                                   FOR COMMITTEE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Forty-seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session

FACT SHEET FOR H.B. 2676

private schools; scholarships; disabled pupils

Purpose

            Appropriates an unspecified amount from the state General Fund in FY 2006-2007 to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) for the Arizona Scholarships for Pupils with Disabilities Program (Scholarship Program) to allow a pupil with disabilities to attend a public or private school of their parent’s choice. Increases Group B weights to levels recommended by the ADE Special Education Cost Study beginning in FY 2006-2007.

Background

            Prior to 1975, schools in the United States educated one in five children with disabilities. Some states had laws excluding students with disabilities from public schools. In 1972, a Pennsylvania advocacy group challenged a law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania denying a public school education to children with disabilities. The court ruled that children with disabilities were entitled to a free, appropriate public education, preferably in a regular classroom (PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F. Supp. 279, E.D. PA, 1972). This case and others led to the passage of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This law became codified as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA continues the free and appropriate public education mandate for children with disabilities and provides federal funding to assist states and localities in meeting these requirements. IDEA was reauthorized in 1997 and most recently in 2004.  Among other changes, the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA revised language regarding members of a child with a disability’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) team as well as changes in initial evaluation and reevaluation requirements.

            According to the Florida Department of Education website, the Florida McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program will provide over 16,000 Florida students with special needs the opportunity to attend a participating private school during the 2005-2006 school year.  In order to be eligible for the McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program, a student must have attended a public school for the prior year and must have an IEP. The parent of a Florida public school student who is dissatisfied with the student’s progress may request a McKay Scholarship to enroll in and attend a private school or choose another public school that better suits the student’s needs. In FY 2005-2006, the average scholarship amount is expected to be approximately $6,000 per pupil. In January 2006, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Voucher Program is unconstitutional. This ruling did not apply to the Florida McKay Scholarship Program.

The anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund for the Scholarship Program is unknown. The bill contains an unspecified appropriation and it is uncertain how many parents of children with disabilities will elect to participate by transferring their child to another public school or a private school. The bill does not include an appropriation for the increase in Group B weights, but according to the ADE Special Education Cost Study released in December 2005, the anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund for the increase in weights is expected to be approximately $5,000,000.

Provisions

Program Eligibility

1. Creates the Arizona Scholarships for Pupils with Disabilities Program to allow the option for students with disabilities to attend any public or private school of their choice.

2. Allows a parent who is dissatisfied with their child’s progress in a public school to request and receive a state scholarship for the child to attend a private school if the student attended public school in the prior year, is accepted and admitted to an eligible private school for the current year, and the parent has notified the school district directly or through ADE of the request at least 60 days prior to the first scholarship payment through a dated written or electronic record.

3. Entitles a student to receive the scholarship award until the student returns to public school or graduates from high school. The scholarship award can be transferred to another eligible private school if the pupil’s parent decides to remove the student from their current private school.

4. Exempts any pupil who receives a scholarship from open enrollment and desegregation policies that limits any transfer to the school district or charter school of their choice.

5. Defines “pupil with a disability” as a child between the age of 3 but less than 22 years who needs special education and related services due to physical, emotional or learning disabilities and who has been issued an IEP.

6. Exempts students enrolled in facilities administered by the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.

School District Notification

7. Requires a school district to provide timely notification to the parents of children with disabilities of special education and other related services and offer opportunities for enrollment in another public school in the school district.

8. Requires a school district to give notice to ADE within ten days after a parent notifies the school district that they attend to apply for the Scholarship Program.

School Selection

9. Permits a pupil for whom their parent has elected to place them in public school to continue attending that public school until the pupil graduates from high school.

10. Allows a parent to select and transport a pupil to a public school in an adjacent school district that operates a program included in the pupil’s IEP and requires the school district to admit the pupil.

11. Restricts a student participating in the Scholarship Program to the limit of 20 miles each way to and from school for a student attending a school through open enrollment.

12. Stipulates that for a pupil who is accepted at a private school pending availability of space to be eligible for the Scholarship Program, the parent of that student notify the school district 60 days prior to the scholarship payment before enrolling the student in the private school.

13. Requires a school district in which a pupil resides to provide locations and times for a statewide assessment if a parent of a pupil participating in the Scholarship Program requests that the pupil take the statewide assessment, but obligates the parent to provide transportation to the assessment site.

14. Limits eligible private schools to those located in the state that are sectarian or nonsectarian.

Scholarship Program Participants

15. Entitles a parent to select and apply for admission to place their child in a private school under the Scholarship Program, but the parent is required to request the scholarship at least 60 days prior to the first scholarship payment.

16. Restricts a pupil participating in the Scholarship Program to continuous attendance throughout the school year unless the pupil is excused for illness or other good cause. Requires the student to comply with the school’s code for student conduct.

17. Requires a parent  to comply with the private school’s parental involvement program unless the parent is excused for illness or other good cause.

18. States that a parent receiving a scholarship warrant must restrictively endorse the warrant to the private school for deposit.

19. Retracts the scholarship if the parent is found to be in noncompliance with the rules of the Scholarship Program.

Funding

20. Caps the maximum scholarship amount at the amount of Group B funding per-pupil base support level calculated for a specific student, but specifies that the amount of the scholarship is the lesser of the Group B per pupil amount or the private school’s tuition and fees or actual per pupil costs.

21. Prescribes that assessment fees charged by the private school be paid from the total amount of the scholarship.

22. Allows ADE to issue a one-time per year reservation payment for tuition at the beginning of the school year, up to $1,000 to be deducted from subsequent payments, and this payment must be returned by the participating private school if the pupil elects not to attend the private school.

23. Directs a school district to report on the number of pupils attending a private school under the Scholarship Program.

24. Establishes the Arizona Scholarships for Pupils with Disabilities Program Fund (Fund) to be administered by ADE and specifies that all monies are continuously appropriated.

ADE Duties

25. Requires ADE to distribute monies in the Fund necessary in four quarterly installments to parents with children participating in the Scholarship Program.

26. Requires ADE to receive documentation for each student’s participation including the private school’s fees and schedules at least 30 days prior to the first quarterly scholarship payment.

27. Directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction upon receiving appropriate documentation and verification of admission to a private school to make equal quarterly payments and specifies that verification of continued enrollment and attendance in the private school are prerequisites for all subsequent payments.

28. Instructs ADE to mail the individual warrant made out to the parent’s name to the private school for the parent to restrictively endorse the warrant to the private school for deposit.

29. Prohibits ADE from making retroactive payments.

SBE Duties

30. Requires the SBE to adopt rules to oversee the Scholarship Program but prevents the rulemaking process from expanding the SBE oversight beyond its current regulatory authority to any additional regulation of private schools.

Miscellaneous

31. Stipulates that the state, not the private schools, will bear the legal burden of defending the Scholarship Program should there be a legal challenge.

32. Excludes a private school from having to alter its creed, practices or curriculum in order to participate in the Scholarship Program.

33. Prohibits the state from incurring liability as a result of the Scholarship Program.

34. Increases special education Group B weights to levels recommended in the December 2005 Special Education Cost Study.

35. Contains an unspecified appropriation from the state General Fund in FY 2006-2007 to ADE to fund the Scholarship Program. This appropriation is exempt from lapsing.

36. Terminates the Scholarship Program on July 1, 2016.

37. Becomes effective on the general effective date.

House Action

ED                   1/25/06     DPA     6-4-0-0-0

APPROP (B)  1/31/06     DPA     9-3-0-3-0

3^rd Read           3/13/06                  33-27-0-0)

Prepared by Senate Research

March 27, 2006

DN/jas