Attorney General Brnovich Releases Opinion on Ambiguities Related to Small School Weight for Charters

Phoenix – Today, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich released a new opinion regarding Small School Weight for Charter Schools. The opinion is in response to questions posed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Specifically, Diane Douglas requested clarification on Senate Bills 1476 and 1193 passed during the 2015 legislative session, and how the legislation affects the eligibility of certain charter schools for the Small School Weight status.

Attorney General Opinion I15-005 addresses ambiguities in the law and concludes that the legislative changes will not alter eligibility for affiliated charter schools with aggregated student counts below 600, regardless of the number of charters held. It will, however, slightly affect both the Classroom Site Fund and inflationary increase monies that some charter schools receive. Finally, the Department of Education is advised to separately determine the number of students in grades K-8 and 9-12 for purposes of applying the relevant weighting factors.

“Nothing is more important than the education of our children,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “I’m not a policy maker, but as a parent, I believe Arizona should be doing everything it can to maximize education resources available for our children. This opinion is intended to clear up ambiguities related to the interpretation of current state statutes.”

Opinion