15-216. Arizona critical language and economic development pilot program; rules; program termination; definition

A. If sufficient funding is provided for this purpose, the state board of education shall establish a six-year Arizona critical language and economic development pilot program. The state board of education, in consultation with the department of education, shall develop and implement courses of study in critical languages for the pilot program.

B. A course authorized under the pilot program may be taught through innovative learning technologies either in a traditional setting or by a visiting foreign guest teacher.

C. The courses authorized under the pilot program may use paraprofessionals in the classroom who are fluent in the critical language being taught and who can provide reinforcement and tutoring to pupils on days and at times when the pupils are not receiving regular instruction.

D. Participating school districts and charter schools shall ensure that any paraprofessionals who participate in the pilot program are fluent in the critical languages being taught and shall submit a signed attestation to the department of education that the requirements of this subsection have been met.

E. The state board of education shall adopt rules relating to the authorized critical language courses that include notification to school districts about the times and places of the course offerings and instructional models for the courses.

F. The department of education shall track, monitor and expand the pilot program to include additional course offerings and other critical languages, subject to pupil demand for the courses and subject to available resources, except that no more than twenty school sites may participate in the pilot program.

G. Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, the state board of education shall select seven schools to participate in the pilot program as follows:

1. Three participating schools shall offer Chinese language courses.

2. Two participating schools shall offer Spanish language courses.

3. Two participating schools shall offer additional critical language courses.

H. If sufficient funding is available for the pilot program, each participating school shall:

1. Receive up to ten thousand dollars on or before July 1 of every year that the school participates in the pilot program.

2. Establish a researched-based instructional model adopted by the state board of education that uses fifty per cent instruction in English and fifty per cent instruction in another critical language.

3. Begin the instructional model prescribed in this section in either the kindergarten program or grade one and add an additional grade each year of participation in the pilot program.

I. If sufficient funding is available, the department of education shall establish and maintain an office of economic development and critical languages to assist the department in carrying out this section. If sufficient funding is not available, the department shall prorate the amount provided to each participating school in accordance with the funding available.

J. Pupils who are classified as English language learners pursuant to section 15-756 and native speakers of the critical language being taught are not eligible to participate in the pilot program.

K. The program established by this section ends on September 30, 2020 pursuant to section 41-3102.

L. For the purposes of this section, " critical languages" means:

1. Languages described in the national security language initiative, including Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic and Portuguese.

2. Native American languages.