15-756.08. Monitoring; report; corrective action plan

A. The superintendent of public instruction shall direct the office of English language acquisition services in the department of education to:

1. Monitor each year at least twelve school districts or charter schools from the fifty school districts or charter schools in this state with the highest number of English language learners. The department shall monitor all fifty school districts or charter schools with the highest number of English language learners in this state at least once every four years.

2. Monitor each year at least ten school districts or charter schools that are not included in the fifty school districts or charter schools described in paragraph 1 of this subsection.

3. Monitor each year at least ten school districts or charter schools that are not required to provide instruction for English language learners for a majority of their grade levels.

4. Choose, based on the department's review of reports submitted by school districts and charter schools, the school districts and charter schools described in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this subsection.

B. The monitoring required by this section shall be on-site monitoring and shall include classroom observations, curriculum reviews, faculty interviews, student records, a review of English language learner programs and an analysis of programmatic effectiveness, at a minimum, to include prior year data that analyze the progress of English language learners.

C. Based on the results of the monitoring, the department of education shall determine whether the school district or charter school is complying with state and federal laws applicable to English language learners.

D. The department of education shall issue a report of the results of the monitoring within forty-five days after completing the monitoring.

E. Within sixty days following the issuance of the department of education's report, the school district or charter school receiving the report shall prepare and submit to the department a corrective action plan, in a manner prescribed by the state board of education, that sets forth steps that will be taken to correct the deficiencies, if any, noted in the department's report.

F. Within thirty days after receiving a school district's or charter school's corrective action plan, the department of education shall review the corrective action plan and may require changes to the corrective action plan.

G. After the department of education has reviewed a school district's or charter school's corrective action plan and made any changes the department deems necessary, the department shall return the corrective action plan to the school district or charter school.

H. Within thirty days after receiving a corrective action plan back from the department of education, the school district or charter school shall begin implementing the measures set forth in the corrective action plan.

I. The department of education shall conduct a follow-up evaluation of the school district or charter school within one year after the department returned the corrective action plan to the school district or charter school.

J. In conducting the follow-up evaluation, if the department of education finds that the school district or charter school is not in compliance with state and federal laws applicable to English language learners, the department shall refer the school district or charter school to the state board of education for a finding of noncompliance. A school district or charter school that is found by the state board to be noncompliant shall not continue to receive any monies from the Arizona English language learner fund established by section 15-756.04 for English language learners and shall not reduce the amount of monies spent on the school district's or charter school's English language learner programs despite the loss of monies caused by the noncompliance.

K. The department of education shall monitor each school district or charter school that the state board of education has found to be noncompliant and that is not receiving Arizona English language learner fund monies pursuant to subsection J of this section to ensure that the school district or charter school does not reduce the amount of monies spent on the school district's or charter school's English language learner programs despite the loss of Arizona English language learner fund monies caused by the noncompliance.