noncertificated school employees; due process

SB1592 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
noncertificated school employees; due process

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1592

Introduced by

Senator
Alston: Representatives Connolly, Sandoval

AN
ACT

amending section 15-502, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to school personnel.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

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

Section 1. Section 15-502, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
15-502.

Employment of school district personnel; payment of wages of
discharged employee

A. The governing board at any time may employ and
fix the salaries and benefits of employees necessary for the succeeding
year. The contracts of all certificated employees shall be in
writing, and all employees shall be employed subject to section 38-481. The
governing board may transmit and receive contracts of certificated employees in
an electronic format and may accept electronic signatures on those contracts.�
If a contract has not been transmitted to the certificated employee by the end
of the current school year, the
transmittal of

governing board shall transmit
an electronic contract to that
certificated employee
prior to

before
the
start of the next school year
shall be submitted
to both
the certificated employee's school district
e-mail
email

address
as well as the
certificated employee's personal
e-mail

email

address
in order to notify
them

the employee
of the offer of contract. Each
certificated employee shall
be responsible for submitting his or
her

submit the employee's
personal
e-mail
email

address
to human resources
personnel at the school district for this purpose. Documents
transmitted in an electronic format pursuant to this subsection
shall
be

are
considered written documents for the
purposes of sections 15-536 and 15-538.01. The governing
board may adopt requirements that require electronic signatures to be followed
by original signatures within a specified time period. A governing
board that accepts an electronic signature for a certificated employee's
contract shall provide validation to the certificated employee that the
contract has been transmitted. The governing board may obtain the
services of any employee, including teachers, substitute teachers and
administrators, by contracting with a private entity that employs personnel
required by the school district.
The governing board
shall adopt and administer personnel policies that provide noncertificated
personnel with substantially equivalent due process procedures as those
prescribed in this chapter for certificated teachers.

B. A teacher shall not be employed if the teacher
has not received a certificate for teaching granted by the proper
authorities. If a teacher has filed an application and completed all
of the requirements for a certificate but time does not allow
a

the
teacher to receive a certificate before the
commencement of employment, the conditional certificate shall serve as a
certificate for the payment of wages
, provided that

if
the teacher files the conditional certificate with the
county school superintendent and the certificate is issued within three months
of

after
the date of commencing
employment. In order to be paid wages beyond the three-month period
prescribed in this subsection, the teacher shall file the certificate with the
county school superintendent. Any contract issued to a teacher who has completed
certificate requirements but has not received a certificate shall be
specifically contingent on receipt of such a certificate. The
governing board of a school district that is subject to section 15-914.01
shall adhere to the duties described in section 15-302, subsection A,
paragraph 9 for
the
purposes of this subsection.

C.
No

A
dependent,
as defined in section 43-1001, of a governing board member may
not
be employed in the school district in which the person to
whom
such

the
dependent is so
related is a governing board member, except by consent of the board.

D. The governing board may employ certificated
teachers under contract as part-time classroom
teachers. Notwithstanding any other statute, a certificated teacher
who has been employed by the school district for more than the major portion of
three consecutive school years does not lose the entitlement to the procedures
prescribed in sections 15-538.01, 15-539
,

through

15-540, 15-541, 15-542, 15-543,
15-544
and 15-547 if the teacher is employed under contract on a part-time
basis for at least forty
per cent

percent
time. For
the purposes of this subsection, "forty
per cent

percent
time" means employed for at least forty
per cent

percent
of the school day
required of full-time teachers of the same grade level or for at least
forty
per cent

percent
of the class
load assigned to full-time teachers of the same grade level, as
determined by the governing board.

E. The governing board may employ a business manager
who has expertise in finance.� For the purposes of this subsection,
"expertise in finance" means one or more of the following:

1. A baccalaureate degree in accounting, finance,
school finance or public finance.

2. A graduate degree in accounting, finance, school
finance or public finance.

3. Other finance training or finance experience that
the governing board determines is sufficient to qualify the person to
administer the business operations of the school district.

F. Notwithstanding sections 23-351 and 23-353,
if an employee is discharged from the service of a school district, the school
district shall pay the wages due to the employee within ten calendar days
from

after
the date of discharge.

G. Each school district shall establish policies and
procedures to provide teachers with personal liability insurance.

H. Notwithstanding any other law, a school district
shall not adopt policies that provide employment retention priority for
teachers based on tenure or seniority.
END_STATUTE