Sec 15-756.01. State board of education; research based models of structured English immersion for English language learners; budget requests; definitions

A. The state board of education shall either use research based models of structured English immersion programs that were previously developed and adopted by the English language learners task force or develop and adopt new research based models of structured English immersion programs for use by school districts and charter schools. The department of education shall provide adequate staff support for the state board of education to comply with this article. The models shall take into consideration at least the size of the school, the location of the school, the grade levels at the school, the number of English language learners and the percentage of English language learners. The models shall be limited to programs for English language learners to participate in a structured English immersion program not normally intended to exceed one year. The state board of education shall identify the minimum amount of English language development per day for all models. The state board of education shall develop separate models for the first year in which a pupil is classified as an English language learner that include a minimum of four hours per day of English language development.

B. The research based models of structured English immersion adopted by the state board of education shall be the most cost-efficient models that meet all state and federal laws.

C. The research based models of structured English immersion shall be limited to a regular school year and school day. Instruction outside the regular school year or school day shall be provided with compensatory instruction and may be eligible for funding from the statewide compensatory instruction fund established by section 15-756.11.

D. The research based models of structured English immersion shall be submitted by the state board of education to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the governor and the state board of education. At least thirty days before adoption, the state board of education shall submit the research based models of structured English immersion to the joint legislative budget committee for review.

E. The state board of education shall review research based models of structured English immersion annually and delete from, add to or modify the existing models. When adopting or modifying English language learner programs, the state board of education shall review and consider the information and data obtained as a result of the department of education's monitoring of English language learner programs pursuant to section 15-756.08.

F. The state board of education shall establish procedures for school districts and charter schools to determine the incremental costs for implementation of the research based models of structured English immersion developed by the state board of education.

G. The state board of education shall establish a form for school districts and charter schools to determine the structured English immersion budget request amount. Notwithstanding any other law, the maximum amount of the budget request shall be the incremental costs of the model selected offset by the following monies:

1. All federal title III monies and any other federal monies designated solely for the educational needs of English language learners.

2. The portion of title I and title IIA monies determined by the English language learner population as a percentage of the qualified population.

3. The portion of impact aid monies determined by the English language learner population as a percentage of the qualified population. A school district or charter school shall only apply unexpended impact aid monies to English language learner programs after it has applied its impact aid monies for other allowable uses as permitted by state law.

4. The portion of desegregation monies levied pursuant to section 15-910 determined by the English language learner population as a percentage of the qualified population.

5. The ELL support level weight prescribed in section 15-943.

H. The difference calculated pursuant to subsection G of this section shall be the maximum amount of the structured English immersion budget request pursuant to section 15-756.03 for monies from the Arizona structured English immersion fund established by section 15-756.04. School districts and charter schools shall not include the incremental costs of any pupil who is classified as an English language learner after July 1, 2007 and who has been classified as an English language learner for more than two years in the calculation of the school district's or charter school's structured English immersion budget request.

I. In consultation with the auditor general, the department of education shall develop and adopt forms to be used by school districts and charter schools to submit budget requests for the Arizona structured English immersion fund, including the form prescribed in subsection G of this section.

J. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Compensatory instruction" has the same meaning prescribed in section 15-756.11.

2. "Incremental costs" means costs that are associated with a structured English immersion program pursuant to section 15-752 or a program pursuant to section 15-753 and that are in addition to the normal costs of conducting programs for English proficient students. Incremental costs do not include costs that replace the same types of services provided to English proficient students or compensatory instruction.