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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES57th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session |
House: ED DP 8-4-0-0 |
HB 2380: school districts; board meetings; expenditures
Sponsor: Representative Gress, LD 4
Caucus & COW
Overview
Requires a school district governing board (governing board) to hold its meetings in a public facility in the school district and provide the public with online access to meeting materials and minutes as prescribed. Establishes requirements a governing board must follow when considering out-of-state travel for employees or governing board members.
History
Governing board meetings must be held at the most convenient public facility in the school district or, if such a facility is not available, at any available public facility that is convenient to all governing board members, regardless of the county or school district (A.R.S. § 15-321).
Open meeting laws require the meetings of any public body, including a governing board, to be public meetings. Individuals must be allowed to attend and listen to deliberations and proceedings. Public bodies are required to take written minutes or a recording of all meetings, including executive sessions, and the minutes of a school board meeting must be available three working days after the meeting. Statute also requires public bodies to provide public notice of meetings as prescribed (A.R.S. §§ 38-431, 38-431.01 and 38-431.02).
A governing board may allow a superintendent, principal or the superintendent's or principal's representatives to travel for a school purpose by majority vote of the governing board. A governing board may also allow its members or members-elect to travel inside or outside the school district for a school purpose and receive reimbursement. The governing board must prescribe procedures and amounts for reimbursement of lodging and subsistence expenses, but reimbursement cannot exceed the maximum statutory reimbursement amounts (A.R.S. §§ 15-342 and 38-624).
A similar bill was introduced in the 57th Legislature, 1st Regular Session and was vetoed by the Governor (HB 2169 school districts; board meetings; expenditures).
Provisions
Governing Board Meetings
1. Mandates all meetings of a governing board and a governing board's subcommittees be held at a public facility in the school district, subject to open meeting law requirements. (Sec. 2)
2. Requires a governing board to provide the public with online access to all governing board and subcommittee meeting materials in the same manner as the governing board provides online access to meeting notices. (Sec. 2)
3. Includes, in the meeting materials a governing board must provide to the public, supplemental materials presented at each meeting or provided to governing board members in preparation for the meeting. (Sec. 2)
4. Directs a governing board to provide the public with online access to the specified meeting materials and governing board and subcommittee meeting minutes for at least five years after the date of the meeting. (Sec. 2)
5. Instructs the governing board of a school district with a student count of more than 5,000 to provide the public with:
a. a live video feed of each governing board meeting; and
b. online access to video recordings of each governing board meeting for at least five years after the date of the meeting. (Sec. 2)
6. Requires a governing board that uses a consent agenda for a meeting to:
a. allow any governing board member to remove items from the consent agenda any time before voting on the consent agenda; and
b. separately discuss and vote on each item removed from the consent agenda. (Sec. 2)
Out-of-State Travel
7. Requires a governing board to approve, on a per-trip basis and by majority roll call vote in a public meeting, any out-of-state travel for a superintendent, principal, the superintendent's or principal's representatives or governing board members or members-elect. (Sec. 3)
8. Directs a governing board, whenever possible, to approve out-of-state travel before the proposed travel. (Sec. 3)
9. Requires, if prior approval of out-of-state travel is impossible, the travel to be submitted to the governing board for approval within 30 days after the travel occurs. (Sec. 3)
10. Mandates a governing board, before voting on whether to approve proposed out-of-state travel, to:
a. identify each individual who may travel out of state, including their job title;
b. identify the name and address of the lodging facility at which each individual will stay;
c. estimate the total cost of the proposed travel and the cost per individual; and
d. publicly note and describe the school purposes and the benefit of the proposed travel to the school district. (Sec. 3)
11. Authorizes an individual not identified in the original out-of-state travel proposal that is approved by the governing board to travel in place of an individual who was identified in the original proposal only if:
a. the superintendent notifies the governing board in writing and at the next regular governing board public meeting that an individual who was not identified in the original proposal traveled in place of an individual identified in the original proposal;
b. the written notification provided by the superintendent includes the information required for the original proposal; and
c. the travel expenses incurred by the individual who was not identified in the original proposal do not exceed the estimated costs for the individual who was identified in the original proposal. (Sec. 3)
12. Instructs a governing board, before voting on whether to approve out-of-state travel that has already occurred and that is submitted for approval, to identify:
a. each individual who traveled out of state, including their job title;
b. the name and address of the lodging facility at which each individual stayed;
c. the total cost of the travel and the cost per individual; and
d. the school purposes and the benefit of the travel to the school district. (Sec. 3)
13. Allows a governing board to require, if it does not approve out-of-state travel that already occurred, each individual who traveled out of state without approval to reimburse the school district for any expenses paid by the school district for the travel. (Sec. 3)
Miscellaneous
14. Makes technical and conforming changes. (Sec. 1, 3)
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18. Initials CH HB 2380
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