public schools; student discipline; absenteeism

HB2947 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
public schools; student discipline; absenteeism

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2947

Introduced by

Representatives
Simacek: Abeytia, Aguilar, Connolly, Contreras P, Garcia, Gutierrez,
Sandoval, Stahl Hamilton, Travers, Volk, Wilmeth

AN
ACT

amending title 15, chapter 1, article 8,
Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 15-186.02; amending section
15-843, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to the suspension and
expulsion of pupils.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 15, chapter 1, article 8,
Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-186.02, to read:

START_STATUTE
15-186.02.

Student discipline; absenteeism

Any penalty imposed by a charter school for a
student's unexcused absence or absences may not include suspension.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 15-843, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
15-843.

Student disciplinary proceedings; definition

A. An action concerning discipline, suspension or
expulsion of a
pupil

student
is not
subject to title 38, chapter 3, article 3.1, except that the governing board of
a school district shall post regular notice and shall take minutes of any
hearing held by the governing board concerning the discipline, suspension or
expulsion of a
pupil
student
.

B. The governing board of any school district, in
consultation with the teachers and parents of the school district, shall
prescribe rules for the discipline, suspension and expulsion of
pupils
students
. The rules shall be consistent with the
constitutional rights of
pupils

students
and
shall include at least the following:

1. Penalties for excessive
pupil

student
absenteeism pursuant to section 15-803,
including failure in a subject, failure to pass a grade
, suspension

or expulsion.
Penalties adopted pursuant to this
paragraph may not include suspension.

2. Procedures for using corporal punishment if
allowed by the governing board.

3. Procedures for the reasonable use of physical
force by certificated or classified personnel in self-defense, defense of
others and defense of property.

4. Procedures for dealing with
pupils

students
who have committed or who are believed to have
committed a crime.

5. A notice and hearing procedure for cases
concerning the suspension of a
pupil

student

for more than ten days.

6. Procedures and conditions for readmitting a
pupil

student
who has been expelled or
suspended for more than ten days.

7. Procedures to appeal to the governing board the
suspension of a
pupil

student
for
more than ten days, if the decision to suspend the
pupil

student
was not made by the governing board.

8. Procedures to appeal the recommendation of the
hearing officer or officers designated by the board as provided in subsection F
of this section at the time the board considers the recommendation.

9. Disciplinary policies for confining
pupils

students
who are left alone in an
enclosed space.� These policies shall include the following:

(a) A process for prior written parental
notification that confinement may be used for disciplinary purposes and that is
included in the
pupil's

student's
enrollment
packet or admission form.

(b) A process for prior written parental consent
before confinement is allowed for any
pupil

student
in the school district. The policies shall
provide for an exemption to prior written parental consent if a school
principal or teacher determines that the
pupil

student
poses imminent physical harm to self or others.� The
school principal or teacher shall make reasonable attempts to notify the
pupil's

student's
parent or guardian in
writing by the end of the same day that confinement was used.

10. Procedures that require the school district to
annually report to the department of education in a manner prescribed by the
department the number of suspensions and expulsions that involve the
possession, use or sale of an illegal substance under title 13, chapter 34 and
the type of illegal substance involved in each suspension or
expulsion. The department of education shall compile this
information and annually post the information on its website. The
information shall comply with the family educational rights and privacy act of
1974 (P.L. 93-380; 88 Stat. 571; 20 United States Code section
1232g), shall not include personally identifiable information and shall show
the number of suspensions and expulsions associated with each illegal substance
aggregated statewide and by county.

C. Penalties adopted pursuant to subsection B,
paragraph 1 of this section for excessive absenteeism shall not be applied to
pupils

students
who have completed the
course requirements and whose absence from school is due solely to illness,
disease or accident as certified by a person who is licensed pursuant to title
32, chapter 7, 13, 14, 15 or 17.

D. The governing board shall:

1. Support and assist teachers in implementing and
enforcing the rules prescribed pursuant to subsection B of this section.

2. Develop procedures allowing teachers and
principals to recommend the suspension or expulsion of
pupils
students
.

3. Develop procedures allowing teachers and
principals to temporarily remove disruptive
pupils

students
from a class.

4. Delegate to the principal the authority to remove
a disruptive
pupil

student
from the
classroom.

E. If a
pupil

student

withdraws from school after receiving notice of possible action
concerning discipline, expulsion or suspension, the governing board may
continue with the action after the withdrawal and may record the results of
such action in the
pupil's

student's
permanent
file.

F. In all actions concerning the expulsion of a
pupil
student
, the governing board of a
school district shall:

1. Be notified of the intended action.

2. Either:

(a) Decide, in executive session, whether to hold a
hearing or to designate one or more hearing officers to hold a hearing to hear
the evidence, prepare a record and bring a recommendation to the board for
action and whether the hearing shall be held in executive session.

(b) Provide by policy or vote at its annual
organizational meeting that all hearings concerning the expulsion of a
pupil

student
conducted pursuant to this
section will be conducted before a hearing officer selected from a list of
hearing officers approved by the governing board.

3. Give written notice, at least five working days
before the hearing by the governing board or the hearing officer or officers
designated by the governing board, to all
pupils

students
subject to expulsion and their parents or guardians of
the date, time and place of the hearing. If the governing board
decides that the hearing is to be held in executive session, the written notice
shall include a statement of the right of the parents or guardians or an
emancipated
pupil

student
who is
subject to expulsion to object to the governing board's decision to have the
hearing held in executive session. Objections shall be made in
writing to the governing board.

G. If a parent or guardian or an emancipated
pupil

student
who is subject to expulsion
disagrees that the hearing should be held in executive session, the hearing
shall be held in an open meeting unless:

1. If only one
pupil

student
is subject to expulsion and disagreement exists between
that
pupil's

student's
parents or
guardians, the governing board, after consultations with the
pupil's

student's
parents or guardians or the emancipated
pupil
student
, shall decide in executive
session whether the hearing will be in executive session.

2. If more than one
pupil

student
is subject to expulsion and disagreement exists between
the parents or guardians of different
pupils
students
, separate hearings shall be held subject to this
section.

H. This section does not prevent the
pupil

student
who is subject to expulsion or suspension, and
the
pupil's

student's
parents or
guardians and legal counsel, from attending any executive session pertaining to
the proposed disciplinary action, from having access to the minutes and
testimony of the executive session or from recording the session at the
parent's or guardian's expense.

I. In schools employing a superintendent or a
principal, the authority to suspend a
pupil

student
from school is vested in the superintendent, principal
or other school officials granted this power by the governing board of the
school district.

J. In schools that do not have a superintendent or
principal, a teacher may suspend a
pupil

student

from school.

K. Except as provided in subsection L of this
section, a school district or charter school may suspend or expel a
pupil

student
who is enrolled in a
kindergarten program, first grade, second grade, third grade or fourth grade
only if all of the following apply:

1. The
pupil

student

is seven years of age or older.

2. The
pupil

student

engaged in conduct on school grounds
that meets
and at least
one of the following criteria

applies
:

(a)
The conduct
involves the
possession of a dangerous weapon without authorization from the school.

(b)
The conduct
involves the
possession, use or sale of a dangerous drug as defined in section 13-3401
or a narcotic drug as defined in section 13-3401 or a violation of
section 13-3411.

(c)
The conduct
immediately
endangers the health or safety of others.

(d) The
pupil's

student's

behavior is determined by the school district governing board or charter
school governing body to qualify as aggravating circumstances and all of the
following apply:

(i) The
pupil

student

is engaged in persistent behavior that has been documented by the school
and that prevents other
pupils

students
from
learning or prevents the teacher from maintaining control of the classroom
environment.

(ii) The
pupil's

student's
ongoing behavior is unresponsive to targeted
interventions as documented through an established intervention process that
includes consultation with a school counselor, school psychologist or other
mental health professional or social worker if available within the school
district or charter school or through a state-sponsored program.

(iii) The
pupil's

student's
parent or guardian was notified and consulted about
the ongoing behavior.

(iv) Before a long-term suspension or
expulsion, the school provides the
pupil

student

with a disability screening and the screening finds that the behavioral
issues were not the result of a disability.

3. Failing to remove the
pupil

student
from the school building would create a safety threat
that cannot otherwise reasonably be addressed or qualifies as aggravating
circumstances as specified in paragraph 2 of this subsection.

4. Before suspending or expelling the
pupil
student
, the school district or charter school considers and,
if feasible while maintaining the health and safety of others, in consultation
with the
pupil's

student's
parent or
guardian to the extent possible, employs alternative behavioral and
disciplinary interventions that are available to the school district or charter
school, that are appropriate to the circumstances and that are considerate of
health and safety. The school district or charter school shall
document the alternative behavioral and disciplinary interventions it considers
and employs.

5. The school district or charter school, by policy,
provides for both:

(a) A readmission procedure for
pupils

students
who are in kindergarten programs, first grade,
second grade, third grade and fourth grade and who have served at least five
school days of a suspension from the school that exceeds ten school days to be
considered for readmission on appeal of the
pupil's

student's
parent or guardian.

(b) A readmission procedure for
pupils

students
who are in kindergarten programs, first grade,
second grade, third grade and fourth grade and who are expelled from or subject
to alternative reassignment at the school to be considered for readmission on
appeal of the
pupil's

student's
parent
or guardian at least twenty school days after the effective date of the
expulsion or alternative reassignment.

L. Subsection K of this section does not apply if
either:

1. Expulsion is required pursuant to section 15-841,
subsection G.

2. The school district or charter school is
suspending the
pupil

student
for two
or fewer days and the aggregate suspensions for the
pupil

student
do not exceed ten days within the school year.

M. All cases of suspension shall be for good cause
, may not be solely based on a student's absenteeism
and shall
be reported within five days to the governing board by the superintendent or
the person imposing the suspension.

N. Rules pertaining to the discipline, suspension
and expulsion of
pupils

students
shall
not be based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin or
ancestry. If the department of education, the auditor general or the
attorney general determines that a school district is substantially and
deliberately not in compliance with this subsection and if the school district
has failed to correct the deficiency within ninety days after receiving notice
from the department of education, the superintendent of public instruction may
withhold the monies the school district would otherwise be entitled to receive
from the date of the determination of noncompliance until the department of
education determines that the school district is in compliance with this subsection.

O. The principal of each school shall ensure that a
copy of all rules pertaining to the discipline, suspension and expulsion of
pupils

students
is distributed to the
parents of each
pupil

student
at the
time the
pupil

student
is enrolled
in the school.

P. The principal of each school shall ensure that
all rules pertaining to the discipline, suspension and expulsion of
pupils

students
are communicated to
students at the beginning of each school year
,
and
to transfer students at the time of their enrollment in the school.

Q. School districts may refer a
pupil

student
who has been subject to discipline, suspension or
expulsion pursuant to this section to a career and college readiness program
for at-risk students established pursuant to section 15-707.

R. For the purposes of this section,
"aggravating circumstances" means the
pupil

student
is engaged in persistent behavior that:

1. Has been documented by the school.

2. Prevents other students from learning or prevents
the teacher from maintaining control of the classroom environment.

3. Is unresponsive to targeted interventions as
documented through an established intervention process.
END_STATUTE