15-891.04. Scholarship funding and payment; fund; liability; rules

A. The maximum scholarship granted for a pupil with a disability shall be equivalent to the base support level prescribed in section 15-943 for that particular pupil.

B. The amount of any assessment fee required by the participating qualified school may be paid from the total amount of the scholarship. The amount of the Arizona scholarship shall be the lesser of:

1. The amount prescribed in subsection A of this section.

2. The amount of the qualified school's tuition and fees or the actual per pupil costs, whichever is greater.

C. If the participating qualified school requires partial payment of tuition before the start of the academic year to reserve space for pupils admitted to the school, a partial scholarship payment may be paid by the department of education before the first quarterly payment of the year in which the Arizona scholarship is awarded, up to a maximum of one thousand dollars, and the amount of this payment shall be deducted from subsequent scholarship payments. If a pupil decides not to attend the participating qualified school, the partial reservation payment shall be returned to the department of education by the participating qualified school. A pupil shall not be awarded more than one reservation payment per year.

D. The school district shall report to the department of education all pupils who are attending a qualified school under the scholarship program offered pursuant to this article.

E. The Arizona scholarships for pupils with disabilities program fund is established consisting of monies appropriated for this purpose. The department of education shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated. Following notification of the number of program participants in the scholarship program, the department of education shall transfer from the fund the amount calculated under subsection A of this section in quarterly installments to the parents of pupils who participate in the scholarship program. When a pupil enters the scholarship program, the department of education shall receive all documentation required for the pupil's participation, including the qualified school's and pupil's fee schedules, at least thirty days before the first quarterly scholarship payment is made for the pupil. The department of education shall not make any retroactive payments from the fund.

F. On proper documentation reviewed and approved by the department of education, the superintendent of public instruction shall make scholarship payments in four equal quarterly installments on dates selected by the department of education. The initial payment shall be made after the department of education verifies that the pupil has been accepted for admission at the qualified school, and subsequent payments shall be made on verification of continued enrollment and attendance at the qualified school. Payment shall be by individual warrant payable to the pupil's parent and mailed by the department of education to the qualified school of the parent's choice, and the parent shall restrictively endorse the warrant to the qualified school for deposit into the account of the qualified school.

G. Liability shall not arise on the part of the state based on the award or use of an Arizona scholarship.

H. The state board of education may adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this article, except that the inclusion of eligible qualified schools in the scholarship program shall not be construed to expand the regulatory authority of this state or its officers or any school district to impose any additional regulation of qualified schools.