Arizona Laws 15-1184. Vouchers; requirements; budgets; prohibited uses
A. The director of the division of special education shall develop requirements for the approval of vouchers, as provided in this section, including the following:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 15-1184
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Base: means the revenue level per student count specified by the legislature. See Arizona Laws 15-901
- Base level: means the following amounts plus the percentage increase to the base level as provided in Section 15-902. See Arizona Laws 15-901
- Child: means a person who is at least three years of age by September 1 of the current year but who is under twenty-two years of age. See Arizona Laws 15-1181
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- placement: means placement of a child in a private residential facility for residential special education placement as defined in section 15-761 or by a state placing agency for care, safety or treatment reasons. See Arizona Laws 15-1181
- Private residential facility: means a private facility that is licensed by the department of economic security or department of health services and to which one of the following also applies:
(a) For special education placements, the facility has been approved by the division of special education pursuant to section 15-765 for the purpose of providing special education and related services. See Arizona Laws 15-1181
- Related services: means related services as defined in section 15-761. See Arizona Laws 15-1181
- School district: means a political subdivision of this state with geographic boundaries organized for the purpose of the administration, support and maintenance of the public schools or an accommodation school. See Arizona Laws 15-101
- State placing agency: means the department of juvenile corrections, the department of economic security, the department of child safety, the Arizona health care cost containment system or the administrative office of the court. See Arizona Laws 15-1181
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Subject: means a division or field of organized knowledge, such as English or mathematics, or a selection from an organized body of knowledge for a course or teaching unit, such as the English novel or elementary algebra. See Arizona Laws 15-101
1. For a special education residential placement voucher, documentation that the requirements of section 15-765 have been met.
2. For an initial residential education voucher, documentation that the requirements of section 15-1183, subsection B have been met.
3. For a continuing residential education voucher, documentation that the requirements of section 15-1183, subsection C have been met.
B. The home school district shall consider recommendations from the state placing agency when determining whether the child should be placed solely in the private residential facility or should be placed for part of the school day in a school operated by a school district as provided in section 15-1185.
C. The private residential facility must demonstrate that previously received voucher monies were spent appropriately.
D. If approved, the appropriate voucher shall be issued in an amount not exceeding the sum of the following and shall be paid directly to the private residential facility in a manner prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction:
1. For group A and for placements not requiring special education services, the base level multiplied by two.
2. For group B, the sum of the support level weight as provided in section 15-943, paragraph 2, subdivision (a) for kindergarten programs through grade eight or for grades nine through twelve, whichever is appropriate, and the support level weight for the category, multiplied by the base level.
3. For both group A and group B, two hundred forty dollars for capital outlay costs or related services and fifty dollars for transportation or related services costs. Beginning with fiscal year 1991-1992, the amounts provided in this paragraph for capital outlay and transportation are increased by the growth rate prescribed by law, subject to appropriation.
E. When an initial residential education voucher expires the funding for the initial residential education voucher shall be paid directly to the private facility from the date of initial placement until the date on which the voucher expires pursuant to section 15-1183.
F. For the purpose of this article, the chief official of each state placing agency and the superintendent of public instruction shall jointly prescribe a uniform budgeting format to be submitted by each private institution and to be used in determining instructional costs and residential costs of persons placed.
G. Any residential special education placement or residential education voucher issued pursuant to this article shall not be used in any private residential facility that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, national origin or disability.
H. Voucher monies shall only be spent to provide education and related services to children placed as provided in this article. The state board of education may withhold funding from an institution for noncompliance with any applicable statute or any applicable rule adopted by the state board.
I. The individualized education program for any child requiring a residential special education placement must include exit criteria that indicate when the educational placement of the child shall be reviewed in order to determine whether the child can be moved to a less restrictive placement.