Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 15 > Chapter 9 > Article 1 - General Provisions for School District Budgets

• Accommodation school: means either:

  (a) A school that is operated through the county board of supervisors and the county school superintendent and that the county school superintendent administers to serve a military reservation or territory that is not included within the boundaries of a school district. See Arizona Laws 15-101

• Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• 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
• Average daily membership: means the total enrollment of fractional students and full-time students, minus withdrawals, of each school day through the first one hundred days or two hundred days in session, as applicable, for the current year. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• 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
• Base revenue control limit: means the base revenue control limit computed as provided in section 15-944. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Base support level: means the base support level as provided in section 15-943. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Budget year: means the fiscal year for which the school district is budgeting and that immediately follows the current year. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Certified teacher: means a person who is certified as a teacher pursuant to the rules adopted by the state board of education, who renders direct and personal services to schoolchildren in the form of instruction related to the school district's educational course of study and who is paid from the maintenance and operation section of the budget. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Charter holder: means a person that enters into a charter with the state board for charter schools. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Charter school: means a public school established by contract with the state board of education, the state board for charter schools, a university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents, a community college district or a group of community college districts pursuant to article 8 of this chapter to provide learning that will improve pupil achievement. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Child with a disability: means a child with a disability as defined in section 15-761. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• 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

• Competency: means a demonstrated ability in a skill at a specified performance level. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Course: means organized subject matter in which instruction is offered within a given period of time and for which credit toward promotion, graduation or certification is usually given. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Course of study: means a list of required and optional subjects to be taught in the schools. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Current year: means the fiscal year in which a school district is operating. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Daily attendance: means :

  (a) For common schools, days in which a pupil:

  (i) Of a kindergarten program or ungraded, but not group B children with disabilities, who is at least five, but under six, years of age by September 1 attends at least three-quarters of the instructional time scheduled for the day. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• Daily route mileage: means the sum of:

  (a) The total number of miles driven daily by all buses of a school district while transporting eligible students from their residence to the school of attendance and from the school of attendance to their residence on scheduled routes approved by the superintendent of public instruction. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• District support level: means the base support level plus the transportation support level. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Eligible students: means :

  (a) Students who are transported by or for a school district and who qualify as full-time students or fractional students, except students for whom transportation is paid by another school district or a county school superintendent, and:

  (i) For common school students, whose place of actual residence within the school district is more than one mile from the school facility of attendance or students who are admitted pursuant to Section 15-816. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• enrollment: means that a pupil is currently registered in the school district. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Fiscal year: means the year beginning July 1 and ending June 30. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• 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.
• Fractional student: means :

  (i) For common schools, a preschool child who is enrolled in a program for preschool children with disabilities of at least three hundred sixty minutes each week that meets at least two hundred sixteen hours over the minimum number of days or a kindergarten student who is at least five years of age before January 1 of the school year and enrolled in a school kindergarten program that meets at least three hundred fifty-six hours for a one hundred eighty-day school year, or the instructional hours prescribed in this section. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• Full-time student: means :

  (i) For common schools, a student who is at least six years of age before January 1 of a school year, who has not graduated from the highest grade taught in the school district and who is regularly enrolled in a course of study required by the state board of education. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• GDP price deflator: means the average of the four implicit price deflators for the gross domestic product reported by the United States department of commerce for the four quarters of the calendar year. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• 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
• hospitalized: means a pupil who is capable of profiting from academic instruction but is unable to attend school due to illness, disease, accident or other health conditions, who has been examined by a competent medical doctor and who is certified by that doctor as being unable to attend regular classes for a period of not less than three school months or a pupil who is capable of profiting from academic instruction but is unable to attend school regularly due to chronic or acute health problems, who has been examined by a competent medical doctor and who is certified by that doctor as being unable to attend regular classes for intermittent periods of time totaling three school months during a school year. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• instructional time: means hours or time spent pursuant to an instructional time model adopted under Section 15-901. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• 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.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means the natural or adoptive parent of a child or a person who has custody of a child. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association or public or private organization of any kind. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Primary property taxes: means all ad valorem taxes except for secondary property taxes. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• public school: means any public institution established for the purposes of offering instruction to pupils in programs for preschool children with disabilities, kindergarten programs or any combination of elementary grades or secondary grades one through twelve. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Qualifying tax rate: means the qualifying tax rate specified in section 15-971 applied to the assessed valuation used for primary property taxes. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Regular school day: means the regularly scheduled class periods intended for instructional purposes. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Revenue control limit: means the base revenue control limit plus the transportation revenue control limit. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• 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
• Secondary property taxes: means ad valorem taxes used to pay the principal of and the interest and redemption charges on any bonded indebtedness or other lawful long-term obligation issued or incurred for a specific purpose by a school district or a community college district and amounts levied pursuant to an election to exceed a budget, expenditure or tax limitation. See Arizona Laws 15-101
• Small isolated school district: means a school district that meets all of the following:

  (a) Has a student count of fewer than six hundred in kindergarten programs and grades one through eight or grades nine through twelve. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• Small school district: means a school district that meets all of the following:

  (a) Has a student count of fewer than six hundred in kindergarten programs and grades one through eight or grades nine through twelve. See Arizona Laws 15-901

• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• 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
• Transportation revenue control limit: means the transportation revenue control limit computed as prescribed in section 15-946. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Transportation support level: means the support level for pupil transportation operating expenses as provided in section 15-945. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unified school district: means a political subdivision of this state offering instruction to students in programs for preschool children with disabilities and kindergarten programs and grades one through twelve. See Arizona Laws 15-901
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• withdrawals: means students who are formally withdrawn from schools or students who are absent for ten consecutive school days, except for excused absences identified by the department of education. See Arizona Laws 15-901