ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
school safety
grants
Purpose
Establishes a school safety violation voucher program for pupils whose continued attendance at a school jeopardizes physical safety. Distributes a portion of the school safety grant for a pupil’s attendance at any qualified public or private school and a portion for the previous school to remediate safety conditions.
Background
In recent years, states have focused on school safety measures as a result of an increase in the number of documented incidences of violence, shootings and criminal activities in elementary, middle and high schools across the country.
S.B. 1127 establishes a school safety violation voucher program that allows the parent or guardian of a pupil to apply for a grant to attend another school if the ADE determines that a pupil’s continued attendance at a school jeopardizes the physical safety of that pupil. The bill specifies that physical safety of a pupil is jeopardized if the school where the pupil attends has two or more documented acts of violence in one month, gang activity, weapons violations or the presence of controlled substances.
There is no discernible fiscal impact to the state general fund associated with this bill.
Provisions
1. Establishes a school safety violation voucher program and requires the ADE to administer the program.
2. Requires the ADE to award school safety violation vouchers to a pupil’s parent or guardian who applies to the program.
3. Establishes a pupil’s eligibility for receiving a school safety violation voucher if the pupil, parent or guardian determines based on an ADE measuring instrument that continued attendance at the school jeopardizes the pupil’s physical safety due to the presence of any of the following activities at the school:
a) two or more documented acts of physical violence against persons in the same month.
b) gang activity.
c) weapons violations.
d) presence of controlled substances.
4. Allows a pupil whose parent or guardian receives a school safety violation voucher to attend any qualified public or private school in the State.
5. Requires a school safety voucher recipient to enroll in a participating public or private school and receive a grant for each school year in an amount that equals three-fourths of the current year’s statewide average total state and local expenditures per child for the prior year.
6. Requires the ADE to award a grant to the pupil’s previous school in an amount equal to one-fourth of the current year’s statewide average total state and local expenditure per child for the prior year and requires the monies to remediate safety conditions of that school.
7. Specifies the school safety violation grant is for the sole benefit of the pupil and is prohibited from being used to aid any participating school.
8. Requires a school safety violation grant to be awarded immediately upon acceptance by the ADE and stipulates the grant is not valid unless it is endorsed in writing. Requires a participating school to reimburse the ADE, on a pro rata basis, for any unused portion of the grant if a pupil attends fewer than one hundred days of school during the school year.
9. Requires the ADE to make school safety violation voucher program information and applications available at each school district office by December 1 of each year.
10. Requires the ADE to publish notification about the school safety violation voucher program in school district publications and the web sites of schools, school districts and the ADE.
11. Requires the ADE to develop a measuring instrument to assess the level of violence in Arizona schools and to annually publish a list of qualified schools that participate in the school safety violation voucher program based on ADE notification by November 1.
12. Requires, by November 15, the ADE to issue an annual report to the Governor and Legislature regarding the number of program applicants, participating schools and the capacity of participating schools.
13. Allows a parent or guardian of a pupil to submit a school safety violation voucher application to the ADE at any time for a grant to be applied to that school year or the following school year. Requires the ADE to notify the parent or guardian in writing of the application acceptance no later than 30 days after the application is received.
14. Stipulates that nothing in the act shall be construed to require a qualified public or private school to alter its curriculum in order to accept a pupil with a school safety violation voucher.
15. Requires, for school year 2002-2003, the ADE to make school safety violation voucher program information and applications available at each school district office by July 1, 2002.
16. Requires the ADE to publish notification of the availability of school safety violation voucher program in at least one newspaper of general circulation in each county of the State.
17. Requires the ADE to publish a list of qualified schools that participate in the school safety violation voucher program based on notification by the State Board of Education by July 1, 2002.
18. Repeals the school safety violation voucher program on July 1, 2012.
19. Contains a retroactivity clause of July 1, 2002.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 11, 2002