PHOENIX – Because Arizona public school students may not be allowed to return to class before the end of the school year, legislators have introduced a plan that could allow students to complete lesson plans at home and finish the school year.
The proposal was introduced by Rep. Michelle Udall and Sen. Sylvia Allen.
“Our education chairs have worked diligently to put together an education plan that addresses the school closures,” stated House Majority Leader Rep. Warren Petersen. “It will ensure that kids learn, graduate and advance and teachers keep working. It brings needed certainty in uncertain times; people can move forward in spite of the challenge we are facing.”
The lawmakers say the “joint proposal provides teachers and schools the necessary flexibility and authority to use resources and personnel in creative ways to deliver education to Arizona students while schools remain closed.”
Teachers and other school employees will be able to work remotely during the closure period to help provide educational instruction, support, and resources to students.
The proposal outlines two sets of guidelines depending on the length of the mandated statewide closure and provisions for paying staff during the closure.
If schools open by March 30, 2020:
• Suspend the calendar and instructional hour requirements for school year 2019-2020.
• Extend statewide assessment window until May 31, 2020.
• Hold harmless school letter grades for school year 2019-2020.
If schools are closed beyond March 30, 2020:
• Suspend the calendar and instructional hour requirements for school year 2019-2020.
• Require public schools to offer general educational delivery in alternative formats to complete the school year for their students as a condition of receiving continued formula funding based on their 100th day average daily membership (ADM).
• Direct the State Board of Education (SBE) and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to provide guidance to schools on how they must attest that they are providing alternative modes of educational delivery, which could include partnerships with other public or private schools, online platforms, email, or mail correspondence.
• Provide, to the greatest extent possible, flexibility, to public schools for special education programs, including alternate modes of service delivery for students on IEPs and 504 Plans.
• Hold schools harmless for transportation funding generated by route miles and allow public schools to use transportation fleets to be used for school operations that support students and families during the statewide closure.
• Allow schools to continue to pay employees to work from home or perform alternative reassignments through the end of the school year.
• Allow schools to use funding generated in the current school year to provide summer school instruction in the summer of 2020 only.
• Cancel statewide assessments for school year 2019-2020.
• Hold harmless letter grades for the school year 2019-2020.
• Waive “Move on When Reading” promotion requirements for school year 2019-2020.
• Require the SBE to immediately develop rules for graduation for school year 2019-2020 only.
• Allow up to 1.25 ADM for students in fiscal year 2020-2021 if the student has taken an online course during June or July of 2020.
• Direct the Auditor General to work with school districts for modified timelines for financial and performance data reporting.
• Provide temporary suspension of statutes that prohibit supplanting of federal and state funds, for school year 2019-2020 only.
• Provide the same flexibility for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind (ASDB) and Career and Technical Education Districts (CTEDs).
• Require ADE, with approval of the SBE, to submit waiver requests by April 15, 2020 to the appropriate federal agencies for food and nutrition, assessment and accountability requirements, or any other issues that impact educational attainment that cannot be met in this school year due to the public health crisis.
• Emergency clause and retroactivity to March 16, 2020.