special education;
institutional placement
SB 1269 modifies the definition of special education to include students between the ages of three and twenty-one years for the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) and the Arizona State Hospital (ASH).
Currently, the ASDB receives state funding for its 1,850 students through legislative appropriations, including group B weights, and special education institutional vouchers. The State currently issues institutional vouchers for ASDB and ASH to special education students kindergarten through grade twelve, pursuant to rules adopted by the State Board of Education. SB 1269 provides that three and four year old children would be eligible for the voucher funding.
A fiscal note has been prepared on SB 1269.
· Amended the appropriations for the Department of Education and the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind budgets to reflect that children age three and four will be eligible for voucher funding from the Department of Education. Therefore, ASDB’s funding from the ASDB fund is increased (the fund where the voucher money is deposited) and ASDB’s general fund appropriation is decreased. The Department of Education budget is increased to reflect the increased number of students eligible for voucher funding. This amendment has the impact of reducing the JLBC fiscal note (prepared for the introduced bill) from $1,287,500 in FY 2002 and $1,379,300 in FY 2003 to $173,900 and $202,900, respectively.
· Provides that for the purposes of determining the services to pupils served by private schools under existing federal law, the state shall consider the term to include home schooled students. A JBLC fiscal memo was prepared on this issue.
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44th Legislature
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Second Regular Session 2 April
18, 2001
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