HB 2910 Summary

• Requires Arizona public schools to continue paying all employees, including hourly workers, during COVID-19 closure from March 16-29, 2020 if employees commit to being available during normal work hours.

• Waives requirement to extend school days or add instructional hours to compensate for closure days if statewide closure ends by March 29, 2020, and allows schools to use higher of 2018-2019 or 2019-2020 letter grades.

• If closure extends beyond March 29, schools must provide general educational opportunities beginning March 30, 2020 for the duration of closure; cancels statewide assessment and uses 2018-2019 letter grades as schools' final grades for the year.

• Suspends special education program statutory requirements and eliminates third-grade reading proficiency promotion requirement for 2019-2020 school year; allows use of generated monies only for summer school in 2020.

• Authorizes superintendent of public instruction, with state board approval, to waive school finance requirements through June 30, 2021 to implement closure provisions; applies retroactively from March 15, 2020.