As the first state legislative session of 2015 heats up, more than 100 bills have been introduced that pertain to education. Some of the greatest concerns seem to focus on standards taught in the classroom, while others propose smaller class sizes and full-day kindergarten, despite funding restraints.
Some of the more notable proposed bills include HB 2426, which would require school districts and charter schools to offer full-day kindergarten instruction if they were currently offering half-day kindergarten.
Another bill, HB 2199, would require that the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) establish a class size reduction and teacher retention program to reduce class sizes to between 15 and 22 students per classroom in grades K-3.
Two bills target Common Core, with HB 2190 prohibiting the ADE from implementing the Common Core standards, Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards, or any other standards or assessments that are aligned with those proposed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.
HB 2392 takes the prohibition one step further by stating that no standards or assessments developed outside of Arizona would be permitted.
Yet another bill, HB 2180, would require that the ADE adopt multiple statewide achievement assessments to measure student achievement of the state academic standards. The assessments must be nationally recognized and the ADE would allow each school district to select the assessment that it wants to be administered at its district.
For those frustrated with the struggle over statewide assessments, HB 2246 would allow parents to have their child opt out of any assessments prescribed by statute. To do so would exclude that child from being factored into the district achievement profile classification.
SB 1131 would allow students who reside in the attendance area of a public school and enrolled in an online charter school to try out for interscholastic activities in the same manner as a student enrolled in that public school. The exception would be if that student was enrolled in a public school prior to enrolling with an online school within that same school year.
SB 1126 would require school boards to adopt policies to require students in kindergarten and grades one through five to engage in daily organized physical activity outside or inside the classroom. Unstructured recess time that takes place immediately before or after lunch periods would not satisfy the requirement.
One last bill of note, HB 2357, would repeal the statute that prohibits school districts or charter schools from offering classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity.
One bill that has already been approved by the legislature and signed by the governor requires that starting in the 2016-17 school year, high school students will be required to pass the U.S. Citizenship Civics test, the same test all immigrants take to become legal United States residents. Students will need to answer at least 60 of the 100 questions on the test in order to graduate from high school or obtain their high school diploma.
