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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
technical
correction; school district boards
(NOW: teachers; strikes; prohibition; remote instruction)
Purpose
Prohibits any school district or charter school teacher from striking or engaging in an organized work stoppage against the school district or charter school. Requires the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to reduce the Base Support Level (BSL) of a school district or charter school if a teacher's strike or organized work stoppage occurs in violation of the prohibition.
Background
A school district governing board or a charter school governing body may adopt any instructional time model (ITM) to meet the minimum annual instruction time and hour requirements and to determine average daily membership, daily attendance and student count. A school may deliver the annual required instructional time or hours to students through a combination of direct instruction, project-based learning, independent learning and mastery-based learning. Additionally, a school may define instructional time and hours to include a combination of in-person instruction and remote instruction, except that a school may provide only 40 percent of its total instructional time in a remote setting without any impact to the school's funding (A.R.S. § 15-901.08).
The State Board of Education (SBE) must select school district schools, and approved charter authorizers must sponsor charter schools, to participate in Arizona Online Instruction (AOI) and be online course providers or online schools. Each AOI school must ensure that a daily log is maintained for each participating student. A daily log must describe the amount of time spent in AOI on academic tasks and be used to qualify participating students in the AOI school's average daily attendance calculations. A student who is enrolled full-time in AOI is funded at 95 percent of the BSL that would be calculated if the student was enrolled full-time in a school district or charter school that does not participate in AOI (A.R.S. § 15-808).
The school finance formula entitles school districts to funding from local revenues and Basic State Aid (BSA) in an amount known as the equalization base. The equalization base is equal to the sum of the BSL, transportation support level and district additional assistance. A charter school's equalization base is equal to the sum of the BSL and charter additional assistance and is funded only by the state General Fund. A school district's BSL is the product of the school district's weighted student count (WSC), Base Level Amount (BLA) and Teacher Experience Index. A charter school's BSL is the product of the charter school's WSC and BLA (A.R.S. §§ 15-901 and 15-943).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Prohibits any school district or charter school teacher from striking or engaging in an organized work stoppage against the school district or charter school.
2. Determines that a teacher who violates the prohibition on striking or engaging in an organized work stoppage forfeits:
a) all civil service rights;
b) all reemployment rights; and
c) any other rights, benefits or privileges that accrue as a result of employment.
3. Specifies that the prohibition on striking or engaging in an organized work stoppage does not restrict a teacher's right to stop work if the teacher is not acting in concert with one or more other individuals in a strike or organized work stoppage.
4. Requires, if a teacher strike or organized work stoppage occurs in violation of the outlined prohibition, ADE to calculate the following for each school district and charter school affected:
a) the percentage of the school district's or charter school's student count before the strike or organized work stoppage that is attributable to students who:
i. participate in AOI; and
ii. are educated pursuant to an ITM;
b) the percentage of the school district's or charter school's student count during the strike or organized work stoppage that is attributable to students who:
i. participate in AOI; and
ii. are educated pursuant to an ITM; and
c) any increase in the percentage calculated for students who participate in AOI or are educated pursuant to an ITM during a strike or organized work stoppage over the percentage calculated for students who participate in AOI and are educated pursuant to an ITM before the strike or organized work stoppage.
5. Requires, if a teacher strike or organized work stoppage occurs in violation of the outlined prohibition, ADE to calculate for students who are educated pursuant to an ITM:
a) the percentage of instruction that is provided in a remote setting before the strike or organized work stoppage;
b) the percentage of instruction that is provided in a remote setting during the strike or organized work stoppage; and
c) any increase in the percentage calculated for instruction provided in a remote setting during the strike or organized work stoppage over the percentage calculated for instruction provided in a remote setting before the strike or organized work stoppage.
6. Requires, if a teacher strike or organized work stoppage occurs in violation of the outlined prohibition, ADE to reduce the BSL of the school district or charter school by:
a) the percentage calculated for the increase of students who participate in AOI or are educated pursuant to an ITM during the strike or organized work stoppage over students who participate in AOI or are educated pursuant to an ITM before the strike or organized work stoppage; or
b) an amount equal to the percentage calculated for the increase of the instruction provided in a remote setting during the strike or organized work stoppage over the instruction provided in a remote setting before the strike or organized work stoppage, multiplied by the percentage of the school district's or charter school's student count before the strike or organized work stoppage that is attributable to students who are educated pursuant to an ITM.
7. Allows a school district or charter school to appeal any funding reduction to the SBE.
8. Defines organized work stoppage as any collective action by two or more teachers to:
a) fail to report for duty;
b) fail to perform the teachers' assigned responsibilities; or
c) interfere with the performance of assigned responsibilities by one or more other employees.
9. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
ED 2/17/26 DPA/SE 7-4-0-1
3rd Read 2/26/26 31-22-7
Prepared by Senate Research
March 9, 2026
MH/hk