SB 1754 Arizona Senate · 57th Legislature - Second Regular Session

ADE; special education; parent complaints

SB 1754 clarifies Arizona's process for handling parent complaints about school districts' special education services. It requires the state education department to post complaint investigation reports online within 60 days (after redacting personal information), excluding them from "student level data" rules. The bill defines when complaints are "does-not-qualify" (e.g., if the student isn't a child with a disability or allegations don't violate special education laws). It also mandates that department policies for complaint handling include public comment periods starting December 2026. This directly affects parents filing complaints, school districts responding to them, and the state education department managing the process.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

House Passage

Apr 2026

Governor

Introduced Feb 5, 2026 Last action Apr 16, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Senate Engrossed Version (03/05/2026) · 6 edits · Mar 5, 2026

MODERATE

The bill was reorganized and significantly rewritten to modernize the Department of Education's special education complaint process. The changes shift the focus from a general advisory committee to a more robust system for handling parent complaints, including new requirements for public posting of investigation reports and stricter rules on redacting student privacy information.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include specific mandates for transparency and public access to complaint data, while the advisory committee section was streamlined to better align with federal requirements.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for the Department of Education to create a central repository of complaint reports was changed to a mandate that all investigative reports must be posted on the department's website within 60 days of investigation completion.

New provisions require the department to adopt specific policies and procedures for handling complaints, including a public comment period starting December 1, 2026, before these rules take effect.

Detailed reporting categories regarding dismissal reasons, withdrawal reasons, and specific types of corrective actions were removed from the annual report requirements.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'does-not-qualify' complaints was clarified to explicitly include cases where the student is not a child with a disability or where the allegations fall outside the department's authority.

A new provision clarifies that posted complaint reports are not considered 'student level data' under state law, distinguishing them from raw data sets.

TECHNICAL

The text of the advisory committee section was updated to correct formatting inconsistencies and ensure alignment with the specific language of 20 U.S.C. section 1412.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 5, 2026 · House Apr 16, 2026

How they voted

23–5

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 30

Mar 5, 2026

D Democratic13

8 Yea 5 Nay

61% Yea

R Republican17

15 Yea 2

88% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 16, 2026

Lower · Passed

PASSED

lower

Apr 9, 2026

Lower · Passed

DPA

lower

Mar 24, 2026

Lower · Passed

DPA

lower

Mar 5, 2026

Upper · Passed

PASSED

upper

Mar 3, 2026

Upper · Passed

DPA

upper

Feb 18, 2026

Upper · Passed

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors