SB 1473 Arizona Senate · 57th Legislature - First Regular Session

K-12; school funding; revisions

Arizona's SB 1473 revises funding rules for charter schools sponsored by state entities like universities or community colleges. It requires these schools to use the state's standard student funding formula, with specific adjustments for small school weights and initial enrollment estimates that must be revised after 40, 100, or 200 days. The bill prevents double-funding for students attending both a charter school and a traditional public school by capping combined enrollment at 1.0 and apportioning funds based on time spent. Charter schools may accept grants but must reduce state funding by the amount of federal or state grants covering basic operations. This directly affects charter schools operating under state sponsorship and their funding calculations.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 4, 2025 Last action Mar 11, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Senate Engrossed Version · 8 edits · Mar 4, 2025

MODERATE

This bill updates Arizona's school funding laws to create a new state student funding formula that school districts can elect to use, changes how charter schools receive funding, and adds provisions for online schools. The changes affect how schools calculate funding, what funding sources are allowed, and how students are counted for funding purposes.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of school funding options by allowing school districts to elect to use a new state student funding formula, and adds specific provisions for charter schools and online instruction that were not previously detailed in this manner.

FISCAL

Added a new state student funding formula (section 15-901.04) that school districts can elect to use, with different funding amounts per student for different grade levels.

Modified charter school funding calculations to include new provisions for accepting grants and gifts, and added rules about reducing base support when charter schools receive federal or state funding for basic operations.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified eligibility requirements for school districts to use the new funding formula, including debt service restrictions and support level ratio thresholds that vary by fiscal year.

REQUIREMENT

Added requirements for charter schools to report student enrollment and attendance data, and to revise student counts and budgets by specific deadlines.

Added provisions for Arizona online instruction, including standards for approval, probationary status requirements, and specific funding calculations for full-time and part-time online students.

Added requirements for charter school governing bodies to transmit budget information to the department of education and post it on their websites.

ENFORCEMENT

Added civil penalty provisions for charter schools that fail to comply with fingerprinting requirements, allowing sponsors to withhold state aid and impose $1,000 penalties per occurrence.

DEFINITION

Modified definitions of student types and attendance calculations to accommodate online instruction, including new definitions for fractional students and part-time students in online programs.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

PASSED

upper

Feb 26, 2025

Upper · Passed

DPA

upper

Feb 17, 2025

Upper · Passed

DPA

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors