ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
schools; compacts; admission of pupils
Purpose
Allows the State
Superintendent to enter into compacts with adjacent states for admitting
students who are residents of Indian reservations located in both Arizona and a
border state.
Background
A 1990 audit conducted by the
Arizona Department of Education (ADE) found that ADE had been providing funding
to instruct non-resident students for the preceeding five years at a total cost
of approximately $465,000 for students who lived on an Indian reservation
extending from Arizona into another state and who crossed the border to attend
a school district on the same reservation in Arizona. In 1991, the Legislature allowed the State Superintendent to
enter into compacts with federally recognized Indian tribes, states adjacent to
Arizona or with a department or agency of the U.S. government in order to allow
students from adjacent states to continue attending school districts in Arizona
(Laws 1991, Chapter 199). In 1993, the
Legislature extended the State Superintendent’s ability to enter into compacts
until 1996.
S.B. 1252 allows the State
Superintendent to enter into compacts with adjacent states with Indian reservations
crossing the respective state borders and specifies the terms of the compacts.
There are 21 tribes in Arizona, four with reservation land extending into
neighboring states. According to the
Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs, detailed Census 2000 data on individual
Arizona tribes and members is not available until 2004.
A Joint Legislative Budget
Committee fiscal note has been requested.
Provisions
1. Allows the State Superintendent to enter into compacts with adjacent states.
2. Limits the compacts to school districts located on Indian reservations in Arizona and school districts located on the same reservation in an adjacent state.
3. Requires the compact to allow for the reciprocal admission of pupils residing on an Indian reservation located in Arizona and an adjacent state to a school district located on the same reservation Arizona and the adjacent state.
4. Stipulates that pupils admitted under the compact be considered residents of the school district attended.
5. Requires the State Superintendent to submit a report by December 1, 2005 to the Legislature containing information regarding the effects of each compact, the costs to each state and any other information directed by the State Superintendent.
6. Repeals the State Superindent’s ability to enter into compacts with adjacent states after June 30, 2006.
7. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
March 12, 2002