Assigned to ED FOR COMMITTEE
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1459
school letter grades; student discipline
Purpose
Requires each school district and charter school to annually report to the Arizona
Department of Education (ADE) information relating to student discipline referrals. Requires ADE
to reduce a school's annual achievement profile letter grade by two letter grades if disciplinary
action is implemented in fewer than 75 percent of a school's discipline referrals.
Background
A school district governing board (governing board), in consultation with school district
teachers and parents, must prescribe rules for the discipline, suspension and expulsion of students.
The rules must contain: 1) penalties for excessive absenteeism; 2) procedures for the reasonable
use of physical force by certificated or classified personnel in self-defense or defense of others;
3) procedures for students who have, or are believed to have, committed a crime; 4) procedures
for expulsions or suspensions of more than 10 days; and 5) procedures for confining students who
are left in an enclosed space. A governing board must assist teachers in enforcing the rules and
develop additional procedures that allow teachers and principals to temporarily remove disruptive
students from a class and recommend the suspension or expulsion of a student. A school principal
must ensure that all rules pertaining to discipline, suspension and expulsion are communicated to
students at the beginning of each school year and are provided to a student's parents when enrolling
the student (A.R.S. § 15-843).
ADE must annually recommend to the State Board of Education (SBE) an achievement
profile for each public school and local education agency using classifications based on an A
through F letter grade system. The A through F letter grade system is applied to each performance
indicator of the prescribed annual achievement profile and the SBE must assign an overall letter
grade for each public school or local education agency (A.R.S. § 15-241).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires a school district or charter school to annually report to ADE:
a) the total number of student discipline referrals submitted by teachers in each school;
b) the number of referrals reported for which the school administration implemented the
teacher's recommended disciplinary action or another disciplinary action; and
c) the percentage of the referrals reported for which the school administration did not
implement the teacher's recommended disciplinary action or any other action. FACT SHEET
S.B. 1459
Page 2
2. Requires ADE to reduce the annual achievement profile letter grade assigned to a school that
is operated by a school district or charter school by two letter grades if:
a) the school does not implement the teacher's recommended disciplinary action or another
disciplinary action in at least 75 percent of student discipline referrals in a single school
year; and
b) the school has no reasonable justification, as determined by ADE, for implementing
disciplinary actions in fewer than 75 percent of student discipline referrals in a single
school year.
3. Specifies that a disciplinary action does not include social emotional learning or restorative
discipline.
4. Requires a school district or charter school to include a rubric for student discipline in every
student handbook.
5. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 12, 2024
MH/slp