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. Requires the compact to limit the per student expenditure amount for students that reside in Arizona but who are admitted to school districts in an adjacent state to no more than Arizona's average per student education cost.
5. Stipulates that pupils admitted under the compact be considered residents of the school district attended.
6. Repeals the State Superintendent’s ability to enter into compacts with adjacent states after June 30, 2006.
7. Provides for a general effective date.
Amendments
Adopted by Committee
1. Requires the compact to limit the per student expenditure amount for students that reside in Arizona but who are admitted to school districts in an adjacent state to no more than Arizona's average per student education cost.
2. Removes the reporting requirements of the State Superintendent regarding the details and costs of compacts with adjacent states.
Senate Action
ED 3/14/02 DPA 7-0-1
Prepared by Senate Staff
March 15, 2002