Arizona Laws 15-365. Service programs operated through the office of a county school superintendent; reports; definitions
A. The county school superintendent may establish service programs that are available to any county free library district, municipal library, local school district governing board, nonprofit and public library, tribal library, private school or tribal school officially requesting such programs.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 15-365
- 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
- Common school district: means a political subdivision of this state offering instruction to students in programs for preschool children with disabilities and kindergarten programs and either:
(a) Grades one through eight. See Arizona Laws 15-901
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Current year: means the fiscal year in which a school district is operating. See Arizona Laws 15-901
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Fiscal year: means the year beginning July 1 and ending June 30. See Arizona Laws 15-101
- Governing board: means a body organized for the government and management of the schools within a school district or a county school superintendent in the conduct of an accommodation school. See Arizona Laws 15-101
- High school district: means a political subdivision of this state offering instruction to students for grades nine through twelve or that portion of the budget of a common school district that is allocated to teaching high school subjects with permission of the state board of education. See Arizona Laws 15-901
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Private school: means a nonpublic institution where instruction is imparted. See Arizona Laws 15-101
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- 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
- Student count: means average daily membership as prescribed in this subsection for the fiscal year before the current year, except that for the purpose of budget preparation student count means average daily membership as prescribed in this subsection for the current year. See Arizona Laws 15-901
- 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
B. Both central administrative costs and general service costs shall be shared on a user basis and budgeted and paid as contract costs by the districts using such programs, except as provided in subsections E, F and H of this section.
C. Agreements or contracts entered into pursuant to this section are not subject to Title 11, Chapter 7, Article 3 relating to intergovernmental agreements and contracts.
D. Each county school superintendent shall submit to the school districts involved and to the board of supervisors no later than May 31 of each year a program progress report and a fiscal report, including actual expenditures through March 31 and estimates for the remainder of the fiscal year, on each service program in operation in the county.
E. County school superintendents may establish special small district service programs designed to meet the special needs of school districts with a total student count of fewer than six hundred in such areas as administrative assistance and specialized services as follows:
1. For counties with seven or more school districts with a student count of fewer than six hundred, the small district service program may serve a single county or two or more counties.
2. Except as provided in subsection I of this section, for counties with fewer than seven school districts with a student count of fewer than six hundred, the small district service program shall serve two or more counties as determined by the superintendent of public instruction.
F. The costs of the small district service program are payable in part from the small district service program fund. Costs in excess of the amount available in the small district service program fund shall be shared on a user basis and budgeted and paid as contract costs by the district using such programs. The small district service program fund for each program shall consist of a base amount plus a per district amount for each school district in the county or counties served that has a student count of fewer than six hundred. For fiscal year 1989-1990, the base amount is fifty-six thousand four hundred ninety-four dollars and the per district amount is five thousand eighty-four dollars. Beginning with fiscal year 1990-1991, the base amount and per district amount are the amounts for the prior year adjusted by the growth rate prescribed by law, subject to appropriation. The base amount and per district amount for each county or counties served shall be funded with state general fund monies, subject to appropriation. The county school superintendent must submit claims for payments to the state superintendent of public instruction. The county school superintendent shall deposit the payments into the small district service program fund.
G. School districts that provide only financing for pupils who are instructed by another district shall be included in determining the number of districts counted for the small district service program fund.
H. For each small district service program that serves two or more counties, a county of jurisdiction shall be selected by the superintendent of public instruction. Payment shall be made into the small district service program fund in the county of jurisdiction from monies that are received from the superintendent of public instruction pursuant to this section for all counties served by the county of jurisdiction.
I. If a small district service program is established before fiscal year 1987-1988, the program may continue to operate as a single county program if the county contains fewer than seven, but at least four, school districts with a student count of fewer than six hundred.
J. A school district with a student count of six hundred or more in the current year that participated in a small district service program and had a student count of fewer than six hundred in the prior year may continue to participate in the program for the current year and one additional year. The amount in the small district service program fund shall be determined as if the district had a student count of fewer than six hundred.
K. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Central administrative costs" means only those costs that are incurred by the county school superintendent in administering any service program that benefits all the school districts in the program and that are shared on a user basis and budgeted and paid as contract costs by districts, except as provided in subsections E, F and H of this section.
2. "General service costs" means those costs that are directly related to each of the service programs, that are shared on a user basis and that are budgeted and paid as contract costs by districts, except as provided in subsections E, F and H of this section.
3. "Service programs" means those programs that can be accomplished more efficiently and economically as multidistrict or multicounty operations.
4. "Student count" means the student count as defined in section 15-901, subsection A, except that it does not include pupils enrolled in grades nine through twelve to whom the district does not provide instruction if the district is a common school district that is not within a high school district.