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SB1248 • 2026

juvenile detention centers; education programs.

SB1248 - juvenile detention centers; education programs.

Children Crime Education
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Thomas "T.J." Shope
Last action
2026-03-10
Official status
House second read
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official summary does not provide specific details about how counties that do not use an accommodation school for their programs will establish funds to support educational efforts, or how funding is calculated based on the number of days students receive instruction.

Juvenile Detention Centers; Education Programs

This bill changes how accommodation schools count attendance for students in juvenile detention centers and county jails, allowing counties to operate education programs through existing accommodation schools without counting those students as regular school attendees.

What This Bill Does

  • Prohibits an accommodation school from counting a student as being in attendance on days when the student is counted as attending a county jail or juvenile detention center education program.
  • Allows a county to run and fund, or just operate but not fund, a county jail or juvenile detention center education program through an existing accommodation school.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Students and staff at juvenile detention centers and county jails
  • Accommodation schools that serve military reservations or homeless children

Terms To Know

accommodation school
A special type of school that operates through the county board to serve specific groups like military personnel, territories not within a regular district, or homeless children.
juvenile detention center education program
An educational program provided for students in juvenile detention centers who are also of school age.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify how the reduction in student count will affect funding or services at accommodation schools.
  • It is unclear if there might be a fiscal impact on state funds due to changes in attendance counting rules.
  • The exact effective date of this legislation has not been specified.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-10 House

    House second read

  2. 2026-03-09 House

    House Rules: None

  3. 2026-03-09 House

    House Judiciary: DP

  4. 2026-03-09 House

    House first read

  5. 2026-02-27 House

    Transmitted to House

  6. 2026-02-26 Senate

    Senate third read passed

  7. 2026-02-10 Senate

    Senate minority caucus

  8. 2026-02-10 Senate

    Senate majority caucus

  9. 2026-02-09 Senate

    Senate consent calendar

  10. 2026-01-22 Senate

    Senate second read

  11. 2026-01-21 Senate

    Senate Rules: PFC

  12. 2026-01-21 Senate

    Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Technology: DP

  13. 2026-01-21 Senate

    Senate first read

Official Summary Text

SB1248 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet

Assigned to
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COMMITTEE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Fifty-Seventh
Legislature, Second Regular Session

FACT SHEET FOR
S.B. 1248

juvenile
detention centers; education programs.

Purpose

Prohibits an
accommodation school from counting a pupil as being in attendance on a day that
the pupil is counted as being a prisoner in a county jail education program or
a student in a juvenile detention center education program (juvenile education
program). Determines that a county may operate and fund, or operate but not
fund, a county jail education program or a juvenile education program through
an existing accommodation school.

Background

Each county that operates a county jail must offer an
education program to serve all prisoners in the county jail who are younger
than 21 years old and do not have a high school diploma or a general
equivalency diploma. Each county with a juvenile detention center must offer a
juvenile education program to serve all school-aged children in the juvenile
detention center.

A county may
operate a county jail education program or a juvenile education program through
an existing accommodation school. If a county chooses not to operate the county
jail education program or the juvenile education program through an existing
accommodation school, the county school superintendent may: 1) establish a
county jail education fund to provide financial support to the county jail
education program; or 2) establish a detention center education fund (juvenile
education fund) to provide financial support to the juvenile education program.
Each county jail education fund and juvenile education fund consists of a base
amount and a variable amount, which are funded with state General Fund (state
GF) monies and subject to appropriation. The base amount is equal to the amount
prescribed for the prior year, adjusted for inflation, and the variable amount
is determined according to a prescribed formula, based on the number of days in
the prior fiscal year that each pupil who had been in the county jail or
detention center for more than 48 hours received an instructional education
program of at least 240 minutes. A school district may not count a pupil as
being in attendance in that school district on a day that, for the purposes of
determining the variable amount, the pupil is counted as: 1) a prisoner in a
county jail education program; or 2) a student in a juvenile education program
(A.R.S. ��
15-913

and
15-913.01
).

An
accommodation
school
is a school that: 1) operates through the county board of
supervisors and the county school superintendent to serve a military
reservation or territory that is not included within the boundaries of a school
district; 2) is established to serve a military reservation, the boundaries of
which are coterminous with the boundaries of the military reservation on which
the school is located; or 3) provides educational services to homeless children
or alternative education programs as prescribed. Accommodation schools must
compute a revenue control limit, a district support level and a district
additional assistance allocation limit for each fiscal year of operation. If a
county operated a county jail education program or a juvenile education program
through an accommodation school in the year before the county begins to operate
the county jail education program or juvenile education program not under the
accommodation school, the county must reduce the student count of the
accommodation school by the student count attributable to the county jail
education program or juvenile education program for the first year of operation
(A.R.S. ��
15-101

and
15-909
).

If prohibiting
an accommodation school from counting a pupil as in attendance on a day that
the pupil is being counted in attendance in a county jail education program or
juvenile education program alters the variable amount calculation for a
juvenile education program or the student count calculation for an
accommodation school, there may be a fiscal impact to the state GF.

Provisions

1.

Prohibits
an accommodation school from counting a pupil as being in attendance in an
accommodation school on a day that the pupil is counted:

a)

as a prisoner in a county jail education program; or

b)

in
attendance in a juvenile education program.

2.

Determines that a county may operate and fund, or operate but not fund,
a county jail education program or juvenile education program through an
existing accommodation school.

3.

Allows a county school superintendent in a county that operates but does
not fund a county jail education program or juvenile education program through
an existing accommodation school to establish a county jail education fund or
detention center education fund to provide financial support to the county jail
education program or juvenile education program.

4.

Allows a county school superintendent to administer a county jail
education fund or a juvenile education fund through an existing accommodation
school.

5.

Requires a county that previously funded, rather than operated, a county
jail education program or a juvenile education program through an existing
accommodation school to reduce the student count of the accommodation school by
the student count attributable to the county jail education program or juvenile
education program for the first year of funding, rather than operation, under
the accommodation school.

6.

Makes technical changes.

7.

Becomes effective on the general effective date.

Prepared by Senate Research

January 29, 2026

LMM/ci

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
SB1248 - 572R - S Ver

Senate Engrossed

juvenile detention
centers; education programs.

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SENATE BILL 1248

AN
ACT

amending sections 15-913 and 15-913.01,
Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to school attendance.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

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

Section 1. Section 15-913, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
15-913.

Juvenile detention centers; education programs; fund

A. Each county that operates a juvenile detention
center shall offer an education program to serve all school-age children
in
its

the county's
juvenile
detention center. The county school superintendent and the presiding
juvenile court judge in each county shall agree on the method of delivery of
the juvenile detention center education program.

B. The state board of education shall prescribe
standards and achievement testing requirements for county juvenile detention
center education programs that attempt to ensure that the programs are
compatible with public school education goals and requirements. The
county school superintendent shall attempt to coordinate the program with each
pupil's

student's
school district of
residence to assist the
pupil's

student's

transition back to the school district at the appropriate time.

C. A county may operate
its

and fund, or operate but not fund, the county's
juvenile
detention center education program through an existing accommodation school.

D. If a county chooses not to operate
,

its

or to operate but not fund, the
county's
juvenile detention center education program through an existing
accommodation school, the county school superintendent may establish a
detention center education fund to provide financial support to the
juvenile detention center education
program.
The county school superintendent may administer the detention center
education fund through an existing accommodation SCHOOL.
The
detention center education fund for each
county's
program
shall consist of a base amount plus a variable amount.� For fiscal year 2019-2020,
the base amount is $100,000 and the variable amount shall be determined
pursuant to subsection E of this section. Beginning with fiscal year
2020-2021, the base amount is the amount for the prior year adjusted by
the growth rate prescribed by law, subject to appropriation.� The base amount
and variable amount for each county or counties served shall be funded with
state general fund monies, subject to appropriation.� The county school
superintendent must submit claims for payments to the superintendent of public
instruction. The county school superintendent shall deposit the
payments
into

in
the detention
center education fund. Any excess monies in the detention center
education fund shall be used to supplement classroom spending.

E. The variable amount
of each
county's detention center education fund
shall be determined as follows:

1. Determine the number of days in the prior fiscal
year that each child who had been in the detention center for more than forty-eight
hours received an instructional program of at least two hundred forty minutes.�
A school district
or an accommodation school
may not
count a child as being in attendance in that school district on a day that the
child is counted for the purposes of this paragraph.

2. Multiply the number of days determined under
paragraph 1 of this subsection by the following amount:

(a) For fiscal year 2019-2020, $25.

(b) For fiscal year 2020-2021 and thereafter,
the amount for the prior year adjusted by the growth rate prescribed by law,
subject to appropriation.

3. For each child with a disability as defined in
section 15-761 who had been in the detention center for more than forty-eight
hours:

(a) Determine the amount prescribed in section 15-1204,
subsection E, paragraph 1 or 2 and add $100 for capital outlay costs.

(b) Divide the sum determined under subdivision (a)
of this paragraph by one hundred seventy-five.

(c) Subtract the amount prescribed in paragraph 2,
subdivision (a) or (b) of this subsection from the quotient determined in
subdivision (b) of this paragraph.

(d) Determine the number of days in the prior fiscal
year that the child received an instructional program of at least two hundred
forty minutes.

(e) Multiply the amount determined in subdivision
(d) of this paragraph by the difference determined in subdivision (c) of this
paragraph.

4. Add the amounts determined in paragraph 3 of this
subsection for all children with disabilities.

5. Add the sum determined in paragraph 4 of this
subsection to the product determined in paragraph 2 of this
subsection. This sum is the variable amount.

F. If a county
juvenile

detention center education program serves more than one county, the county
school superintendents and the presiding juvenile court judges of the counties
being

that are
served shall agree on a
county of jurisdiction. The county school superintendent shall
deposit
into

in
the detention center
education fund of the county of jurisdiction monies that are received from the
superintendent of public instruction pursuant to this section for all counties
served by the county of jurisdiction.

G. If a county
operated

funded
a juvenile detention center education program through an
accommodation school in the year before it begins to
operate its

fund the county's
juvenile detention center education
program as provided in subsection D of this section, for the first year of
operation

funding
as provided in
subsection D of this section, the student count of the accommodation school
shall be reduced by the student count attributable to the juvenile detention
center education program.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 15-913.01, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
15-913.01.

County jails; education program; fund

A. Each county that operates a county jail shall
offer an education program to serve all prisoners who are twenty-one
years of age or younger, who do not have a high school diploma or a general
equivalency diploma and who are confined in the county jail. The
county school superintendent and the sheriff in each county shall agree on the
method of delivery of the education program.

B. The county school superintendent shall develop
policies and procedures to transfer the educational records of any prisoner
who is
confined in a county jail
and
who
has been transferred from a juvenile detention center or from any other public
agency that has provided educational services to that prisoner.

C. A county may operate
its

and fund, or operate but not fund, the
county jail education
program through an accommodation school that provides alternative education
services pursuant to section 15-308, except that each pupil enrolled in
the accommodation school county jail education program shall be funded at an
amount equal to seventy-two percent of the amount for that pupil if that
pupil were enrolled in another accommodation school program.

D. If a county chooses not to operate
,

its

or to operate but not fund, the

county jail education program through an accommodation school, the county
school superintendent may establish a county jail education fund to provide
financial support to the
county jail education
program.�
The county school superintendent may administer the county jail
education fund through an existing accommodation school.
The
county jail education fund for each
county's
program
shall consist of a base amount plus a variable amount.� For fiscal year 1999-2000,
the base amount is $14,400 and the variable amount shall be determined pursuant
to subsection E of this section. The base amount and variable amount
for each county or counties served shall be funded with state general fund
monies, subject to appropriation. The county school superintendent
must submit claims for payments to the superintendent of public
instruction. The county school superintendent shall deposit the
payments in the respective county jail education fund.

E. The variable amount
of each county
jail education fund
shall be determined as follows:

1. Determine the number of days in the prior fiscal
year that each pupil who is a prisoner and who had been in the county jail for
more than forty-eight hours received an instructional program of at least
two hundred forty minutes. A school district
or an
accommodation school
may not count a pupil as being in attendance in
that school district on a day that the pupil is counted as a prisoner for the
purposes of this paragraph.

2. Multiply the number of days determined under
paragraph 1 of this subsection by the following amount:

(a) For fiscal year 1999-2000, $10.80.

(b) For fiscal year 2000-2001 and each year
thereafter, the amount for the prior year adjusted by any growth rate
prescribed by law, subject to legislative appropriation.

3. For each pupil who is a child with a disability
as defined in section 15-761, who is a prisoner and who had been in the
county jail for more than forty-eight hours:

(a) Determine the amount prescribed in section 15-1204,
subsection E, paragraph 1 or 2, multiply the amount by .72 and add $72 for
capital outlay costs.

(b) Divide the sum determined under subdivision (a)
of this paragraph by one hundred seventy-five.

(c) Subtract the amount prescribed in paragraph 2 of
this subsection from the quotient determined in subdivision (b) of this
paragraph.

(d) Determine the number of days in the prior fiscal
year that the pupil received an instructional program of at least two hundred
forty minutes.

(e) Multiply the amount determined in subdivision
(d) of this paragraph by the difference determined in subdivision (c) of this
paragraph.

4. Add the amounts determined in paragraph 3 of this
subsection for all pupils with disabilities who are prisoners.

5. Add the sum determined in paragraph 4 of this
subsection to the product determined in paragraph 2 of this
subsection. This sum is the variable amount.

F. If a county jail education program serves more
than one county, the county school superintendents and the sheriffs of the
counties
being

that are
served shall
agree on a county of jurisdiction. The county school superintendent
shall deposit in the county jail education fund of the county of jurisdiction
monies that are received from the superintendent of public instruction pursuant
to this section for all counties
that are
served by the
county of jurisdiction.

G. If a county
operated

funded
a county jail education program through an accommodation
school in the year before it begins to
operate its

fund the
county jail education program as provided in
subsection D of this section, for the first year of
operation

funding
as provided in subsection D of this section, the
student count of the accommodation school shall be reduced by the average daily
membership attributable to the accommodation school's county jail education
program in its last fiscal year of operation.
END_STATUTE