The proposed bill introduces amendments to the Arizona Revised Statutes concerning assessment and accountability, particularly expanding the scope of annual reports and standardized testing requirements to include the Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. The bill requires that annual reports provided by the state board of education now include information on the ESA program, in addition to schools and school districts. These reports must be submitted to various stakeholders and made publicly available, including standardized test scores disaggregated by eligibility category and school type for ESA program participants.

Furthermore, the bill mandates that students in grades three through twelve participating in the ESA program take either a nationally standardized norm-referenced achievement test or the statewide assessment, with results reported to the Department of Education. The bill also establishes an audit team within the office of the auditor general to monitor qualified schools and determine the percentage of ESA monies spent in the classroom, with findings to be posted on the schools' websites and subject to biannual status reports and legislative review. The bill repeals and amends certain sections of the statutes to align with these new requirements and clarifies that qualified schools accepting payments from the ESA program must comply with specific reporting and hearing participation requirements.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 15-743, 15-2402, 15-2404, 41-1279.03, 15-741, 93-380, 15-742, 15-2403, 15-766, 15-2401, 28-9551, 15-802, 2023-2024, 93-112, 15-731, 15-761, 15-763, 15-185, 15-943, 35-190, 2020-2021, 35-113