JFBA ©
UNSAFE  SCHOOL  CHOICE

Pursuant to the Unsafe School Choice Option of the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for the State is contingent upon the adoption and enforcement of an unsafe school choice policy.  The State policy must require that a student attending a persistently dangerous public elementary school or secondary school, as determined by the State in consultation with a representative sample of local educational agencies, or who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense, as determined by State law, while in or on the grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school that the student attends, be allowed to attend a safe public elementary school or secondary school within the local educational agency, including a public charter school. 

Definitions

General Definition of Persistently Dangerous School Label (Adopted by Arizona State Board).  A persistently dangerous school is a school with recurring violent and/or dangerous crime that continues over time and does not use research based planning and prevention programming to ensure school safety.

The State, with a representative sample of local educational agencies, must determine which schools are persistently dangerous.

Definition of Victim of Violent Criminal Offense.  A victim is an individual against whom the crime is committed as listed in a police report that is not unfounded or exceptionally cleared, or who is an immediate family member of a crime victim that has been killed or incapacitated.

Exhibit JFBA-E lists the laws that are considered Violent Criminal Offenses.  These laws should be consulted to determine if the victim is eligible for the optional transfer to another school within the District or to a charter school.

Enrollment  Options

Persistently Dangerous School Label

All students attending a public school that is classified by the State as a persistently dangerous school shall be notified of this label and be offered the opportunity to transfer to any school within the District that is not labeled persistently dangerous and contains the same grade level the student is eligible to attend or a charter school.

Victim of Violent Criminal Offense

Any student, while in or on the grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school that the student attends, who is subjected to a violent criminal offense as defined in Arizona law or who is an immediate family member of one who has been killed or incapacitated by such defined violent criminal offense shall be offered the opportunity to transfer to any school within the District that contains the same grade level the student is eligible to attend or a charter school.

Reports  Required

The number of individuals using the individual transfer option should be reported to the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) each year in the format and form required.

Schools are to report violations of rules regarding dangerous weapons in the "Safe and Drug-Free Schools Report," which is an annual requirement for all public schools in Arizona and is due to ADE by June 30 each year.  Additionally, referrals to law enforcement agencies for criminal offenses should be reported in the annual School Report Card.

Adopted:  August 8, 2017

LEGAL REF.: 
A.R.S. 
15-341
13-3726
20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.,  Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015
20 U.S.C. 7912, Unsafe School Choice Option

CROSS REF.: 
JC - School Attendance Areas
JG - Assignment of Students to Classes and Grade Levels