Client Alert: Five+ Legislative Changes You Need to Know About Now

Five+ Legislative Changes You Need to Know About Now

The legislature is still in session, but five bills will become law 90 days after the session is over, and they will impact your school’s operations. We have provided general overviews of the bills below, along with some general advice or things that you should think about so that you can begin to prepare now. We have also included a list and short description of other legislative changes that you should know about.

Directory Information. HB2514 revises A.R.S. §15-142 (the statute that incorporates FERPA into state law) to address concerns about the ease of accessing student contact information.  

First, the new law flips the current “opt out” requirement for certain directory information into an “opt in” requirement. Specifically, it prohibits schools from disclosing the address, telephone number or email address of a student, even if that information is designated as “directory information” by the school, unless a parent (or an eligible student, if 18 or older) has affirmatively consented to the disclosure in writing. The only two exceptions to this new “opt in” requirement are when:

• The disclosure is required by state or federal law; or
• The disclosure is to other students for educational purposes or to school employees for school business purposes and the parent/eligible student has not opted out of the “directory information” disclosure, generally. 

Second, the statute now highlights existing obligations under FERPA that prohibit disclosure of any “directory information” unless the school first informs parents/eligible students about: (i) the types of information that have been designated as “directory information,” (ii) the right to opt out of the disclosure of directory information, and (iii) the time period in which they must opt out. The need to include a deadline to opt out is a new requirement of state law.

Advice: You should consider removing a student’s address, phone number and email from the types of information you designate as “directory information.” Many schools are doing so to limit the potential for inadvertent disclosures of such information. If you are currently using student contact information for school directories or other similar school purposes, consider potential alternatives. For example, you can continue to include parent contact information as directory information, and that may suffice for your purposes. If you want to continue using student contact information in that manner, you must obtain advance written permission to do so by requesting that parents “opt in” to its disclosure for that purpose. You should also specifically note when your opt out form must be submitted (by September 15, 2025, for example), and you can include an alternative submission deadline (five calendar days, for example) for students who enroll after the deadline.

Mandatory Reporting. SB1437 expands the individuals who are mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse or neglect and provides additional guidance about the involvement of school resources officers (SRO) and school safety officers (SSO) in reporting.

First, charter school governing board members and substitute teachers are now identified as mandatory reporters. 

Second, when the alleged perpetrator of child abuse or neglect is a public school employee or an employee of school contractors working in the school, the allegations or suspicions must now be reported to the State Board of Education, in addition to the mandatory report made to law enforcement.

Third, the revisions to both A.R.S. § 13-3620 and A.R.S. § 15-514 make it clear that a report to an SRO or an SSO does not satisfy any mandatory reporting requirements. 

Fourth, the statutes now provide guidance to SROs and SSOs who receive a report of child abuse or neglect, directing them to immediately notify a law enforcement agency and submit all information relating to the report so that law enforcement can investigate it. 

Advice: The statute does not distinguish between charter school corporate boards and school governing boards. You should therefore provide training to all of your governing board members – both corporate and school governing board members, if they are not the same – about their mandatory reporting obligations, ideally before the new school year. You should also ensure that the training for your staff makes it clear that a report to an SRO or SSO, if you have either on your campus, does not satisfy their mandatory reporting obligations.

Cell Phone Restrictions. HB2484 created a new state law, A.R.S. § 15-120.05, that requires schools to adopt policies to limit (not eliminate) students’ use of cell phones and other “wireless communication devices” during the school day. “School day” means the entire time that students are at school, including meals, passing periods and recess.

In particular, the policies must:

• Address students’ access to the internet while at school, including restricting students’ access to social media except to the extent that teachers allow students to access social media for “educational purposes;”
• “Limit” the use of any “wireless communication devices,” including personal cell phones, during the school day, except that students may use their devices: (i) for “educational purposes” if a teacher allows it, (ii) during an emergency, or (iii) as required for a student’s medical condition; and
• Address procedures for allowing students and their parents to contact each other during the school day. 

Schools must provide the policies to parents, students and teachers at the beginning of each school year, noting any changes that were made to the previous year’s policies.

Advice: The new statute does not require you to adopt an “away all day” policy for electronic devices, although you can do so. Instead, the policies must “limit” the use of devices during the entire school day. In addition, students need not be permitted to use their cell phones to contact their parents and vice versa; instead, the policies may require students and parents to contact each other the old school way – by using the school’s front office staff. Finally, if you already have policies that comply with this new statute, you do not need to adopt new policies.

We will draft a form policy that will be available for purchase soon. We will announce the availability of the policy and its cost in a separate future email.

If you decide to draft your own policies, consider the following: how and when students should store their devices while at school (at the beginning of each school day in the office or at the beginning of each class?); when students can use their devices (at recess? during passing periods?); whether your policies should distinguish between younger students and high school students; procedures for teachers to allow students to use their devices or to access social media for educational purposes; and what disciplinary measures you will implement for violations of the policy (grace periods at the beginning of the school year? a warning for the first violation of the policy?).

Water Safety Education Information. Beginning with the upcoming school year, HB2019 requires schools to provide parents with the Arizona Department of Education’s website address listing water safety and swimming lesson information when they initially enroll their child at the school.  

Advice: ADE must first compile water safety and swimming lesson information on its website before you can comply with your obligations under this new law. Watch for announcements of the ADE website link, either from ADE itself, from ASBCS, or from another entity. Although you are only required to provide this information to a parent “who initially enrolls” in the school, it may be easiest to include the website link in your parent/student handbook each year. In the alternative, you could add it to your enrollment form.

Emergency Operation Plans. You have likely already developed an emergency operation plan (an “EOP”), but if not, HB2074 now makes it clear that charter schools must adopt one, whether they receive school safety grant funding or not. It was previously clear that school districts needed to adopt an EOP, and the Auditor General and ASBCS had opined that charter schools were also required to adopt an EOP, but the statutory authority tying the requirement to charter schools was not clear. 

A separate bill, SB1233, that would have exempted charter schools that provide only online instruction from the EOP requirement failed to pass, so AOI schools must also have an EOP.

Your EOP must comply with “minimum standards” that are developed by ADE and the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, and it must also “address how the school and emergency responders will communicate and provide assistance to students with disabilities.”

The bill also makes clear that “school building blueprints and floor plans” are not public records and need not be disclosed if requested under Arizona’s Public Records Law.

Advice: If you have not prepared an EOP yet, do it now! The Auditor General has been auditing school districts and charter schools for their compliance with the EOP requirements, and if you have not been audited yet, you could be on the next list of schools.

Other Miscellaneous New Requirements and Laws:

HB2170 requires that a student’s IEP must now indicate whether the student has been diagnosed with dyslexia. 

SB1225 modifies the requirement to provide instruction about the September 11 terrorist attacks only to students in grades 7-12. This bill has an emergency clause, which means that it was effective on the date the Governor signed it.  

SB1358 confirms that charter school “representatives,” board members, and officers have the right to access student records and school campuses, and to make decisions about “student learning” and school safety.

SB1372 requires individuals requesting public records to “affirm” that the request is not for a commercial purpose. If the request is for a commercial purpose, they must tell you what the records will be used for.

SB1383 requires schools, upon a parent’s request, to provide the credentials of any individuals providing health services at the school and to provide information about the types of emergency training (such as CPR training) that employees are required to complete.

SB1106 removes public entities’ immunity from liability for sexual abuse of students if they ignore a statutory duty to obtain background information about employees or they have a statutory duty to report the abuse and failed to do so.

SB1493 requires DCS caseworkers to present DCS identification to schools before they may interview a student at school. Schools may also ask caseworkers to present a driver’s license or similar photo ID, but schools can keep only a copy of the DCS identification. If the caseworker declines to provide identification for any reason, the school must contact DCS directly to verify the caseworker’s identity and employment before allowing the interview.

Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, HB2164 will prohibit schools that participate in the federal school lunch program to “serve, sell, or allow a third party to sell” any ultra processed food during the normal school day. The statute contains a list of ingredients that are included in ultra processed foods.

Please let us know if you have any questions about these new laws. We will send more information in the future about a form cell phone/device policy for purchase.