15-249.06. College credit by examination incentive program; incentive bonuses; report; college credit by examination development fund; program termination

A. The college credit by examination incentive program is established within the department of education to provide an incentive bonus to teachers, school districts and charter schools for students who obtain a passing score on a qualifying examination for college credit while in high school.

B. The Arizona board of regents shall maintain a list of qualifying examinations that a high school student may take in order to receive college credit in mathematics, English language arts, social studies or science from any university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents and the passing scores required on those examinations in order to receive college credit. On or before September 1 of each year, the Arizona board of regents shall provide the list of qualifying examinations and passing scores to the department of education and shall submit this list to the joint legislative budget committee.

C. Beginning in fiscal year 2017-2018, the department of education shall pay an incentive bonus to school districts and charter schools for each student in grades nine through twelve who receives a passing score during the previous fiscal year on a qualifying examination identified by the Arizona board of regents pursuant to subsection B of this section. A student who receives a passing score on a qualifying examination and who is enrolled in a school where fifty percent or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches shall generate for the school or charter school a bonus of $450 per passing score on a qualifying examination. A student who receives a passing score on a qualifying examination and who is enrolled in a school where less than fifty percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches shall generate for the school or charter school a bonus of $300 per passing score on a qualifying examination. If the statewide sum of per student bonuses awarded pursuant to this subsection exceeds the amount of available monies appropriated for incentive bonuses, the bonus monies shall be reduced proportionally to cover all eligible bonus awards.

D. A school district or charter school that receives an incentive bonus pursuant to this section shall distribute at least fifty percent of the bonus monies to the associated classroom teacher for each student who passes a qualifying examination and to other teachers of relevant subjects who instructed that student, including but not limited to teachers in the same department or subject matter that contributed to the student passing the examination, as identified by the school district governing board, the charter school governing body or the school principal. Bonus monies awarded to a teacher pursuant to this subsection are in addition to any regular wage, compensation or other bonus the teacher receives or is scheduled to receive and shall be provided to the teacher by the end of the school year or not later than thirty days after the end of the school year. The remainder of any bonus monies received by a school district or charter school shall be allocated by the school principal on behalf of students who receive a passing score and may be used for teacher professional development or student instructional support, reimbursement of examination fees or instructional materials. Any bonus monies received by a school district or charter school pursuant to this subsection shall be separately accounted for in the school district's or charter school's annual financial report.

E. Incentive bonuses distributed to and any bonus monies received by a school district or charter school pursuant to this section are not subject to collective bargaining.

F. Payments made by the department of education pursuant to this section shall be distributed to schools not later than March 1 of each year. School districts and charter schools may appeal the allocation of bonus monies not later than August 1 of each year. The department may withhold up to $10, 000 of the monies appropriated for the purposes of this section to address allocation appeals by school districts and charter schools.

G. On or before December 15, 2018 and on or before December 15 of each year thereafter, the department of education shall submit to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the governor, the secretary of state, and the joint legislative budget committee, a report on all of the following:

1. The number of students who took a qualifying examination at each school.

2. The number of students who received a passing score on a qualifying examination and the number of incentive bonus awards distributed.

3. The number and types of qualifying examinations taken by students.

4. The amount of bonus monies received by each school.

H. Incentive bonuses distributed to and any bonus monies received by a teacher are not compensation as defined in section 38-711.

I. The college credit by examination development fund is established consisting of monies that are appropriated to the department of education for the purposes of this section but that are not distributed by the end of the fiscal year in which the monies are appropriated. The department shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated and are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190 relating to lapsing of appropriations. The department shall distribute monies in the fund to schools in which fifty percent or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches to assist those schools in developing and operating classes that offer qualifying examinations pursuant to this section. The department shall prioritize distributions from the fund based on need.

J. The program established by this section ends on July 1, 2026 pursuant to section 41-3102.