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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, First Regular Session
schools; calculated opportunity index
Purpose
Establishes a calculated opportunity index to provide funding for school districts and charters. Requires school districts to reduce their desegregation expenditures by the amount received from the index.
Background
Statute allows a school district to budget and levy an additional property tax beyond the tax used for regular maintenance and operations for expenses incurred for any measures or activities designed to remediate alleged or proven racial discrimination. This budget authority is typically referred to as desegregation funding, although monies may be used to remediate any civil rights category violation.
The U.S. Supreme Court gave school authorities the responsibility for desegregation solutions and established that states have the responsibility for funding them. As of FY 2016, 18 Arizona school districts budgeted monies for desegregation efforts resulting from administrative agreements with the U.S. Office for Civil Rights or federal court orders for remediation of alleged or proven racial discrimination. Laws 2018, Chapter 283, shifted funding for school district expenses relating to desegregation from the primary property tax levy to the secondary property tax levy. Secondary property taxes levied for this purpose do not require voter approval but must be separately delineated on a property owner's property tax statement.
Generally, school districts must ensure that desegregation expenses are educationally justifiable, result in equal educational opportunities, promote systemic and organizational changes within the district, accomplish specific actions to remediate the violation and do not exceed the budgeted amount by the school district for desegregation expenses in FY 2009 (A.R.S. § 15-910).
Regarding school finance, the base support level (BSL) is the product of a school district’s total weighted student count (WSC) multiplied by the base level amount (BLA) multiplied by the teacher experience index (TEI) (A.R.S. § 15-943). Specifically, the WSC is determined by applying different weights based on student enrollment. School districts also receive weights that are applied to a district’s student count based on factors including the number of students taught in certain grade levels and student needs such as special education, English language learners and severe developmental disabilities. Finally, the product generated from the previous steps is multiplied by the TEI. The TEI increases a school district’s BSL by 2.25 percent for each year that the district’s average teacher experience exceeds the state average.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals. Currently, 601,296 students or 56 percent of Arizona students qualify for the NSLP (Arizona Department of Education).
The fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation is unknown at this time. There will be a fiscal impact to the state General Fund based on the amount a qualifying school district or charter receives from the proposed calculated opportunity index.
Provisions
Calculated Opportunity Index
1. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, by February 1, to annually determine the calculated opportunity index by finding:
a) the difference, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percentage point, between the average percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches at each Arizona school district or charter, and the statewide average percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches in school districts and charters;
b) multiplying by 0.059; and
c) dividing by 100.
2. Stipulates if the statewide average percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches is greater than the average percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches at each school district or charter, use zero for the calculated opportunity index.
Base Support Level
3. Adds the school district's TEI or 1.00, whichever is greater, to the school district’s calculated opportunity index.
4. Adds 1.00 to the calculated opportunity index of a charter school.
5. Multiplies the sum of the school district's TEI and the calculated opportunity index by the WSC, rather than multiplying the district’s TEI by the WSC.
Desegregation Expenses
6. Modifies a school district's budget for desegregation expenses by subtracting the calculated opportunity index from that amount.
7. Prohibits a school district from budgeting for desegregation expenses, if the calculated opportunity index is greater than the FY 2009 limit for desegregation expenditures.
Miscellaneous
8. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 1, 2019
JO/gs